


Assistance

by SpaceHaystack



Category: Adam Driver - Fandom, Marriage Story - Fandom, Star Wars, girls - Fandom, paterson
Genre: Assistant, Behind the Scenes, Drama, F/M, Fluff, I’m typing from mobile so please tell me if you find typos!, Romance, Short Temper, Slow Burn, Smut, Stolen Glances, The Last Jedi - Freeform, Travel, Unfinished, cue swoon for midwestern accents, inappropriate use of a showerhead, it’ll get sexy eventually, not so friendly at first
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:26:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 44,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23236915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceHaystack/pseuds/SpaceHaystack
Summary: You are employed by an agency that assigns handlers, security and driving staff to celebrities. You take an assignment for Adam Driver without really knowing who he is and OH BOY do you find outPlaced in a universe where Adam isn’t married with a child because —yikes— I could never desecrate that (but I’m still crushing on him, you feel?) I took a lot of inspiration from watching Adam Sackler on the showGirls*Bookmark me, I’m updating daily for now!*
Relationships: Reader/Adam Driver
Comments: 63
Kudos: 199





	1. Awake

Your eyelids flew open. The source of the disturbance was just to your left, the only source of light or sound in your bedroom—your cell phone, which was buzzing and ringing annoyingly on your bedside table. Groaning, you reached for the annoying little brick and unlocked it. 

Holding the phone up to your ear, you managed to get out a groggy greeting. 

“Hello?” 

A flurry of words supposedly meant to be a greeting and explanation were coming from the receiver, but your brain couldn’t catch up until the last second.

“—bottom line is I can’t make it and this is super important for my career and if you could take this on for me, gosh you would have no idea—I would owe you BIG TIME.” 

The voice belonged to Ella, a young woman who you worked with at the agency and whom you considered your closest friend since taking the job as a personal assistant and handler. 

“Ella...you’re sick?” You managed to get out, your eyes wandering around the room through squinting lids for any sign of daylight. 

“Positive for the flu. So, can you take the job for me? Please? I don’t have a lot of options here,” she said pleadingly. Her voice was gruff and tired. 

You thought back to her assignment, it was to an upcoming actor with press meetings spanning over the course of the next two weeks for a highly anticipated film due this winter. 

“Yeah, I just...send me your flight and travel information and I’ll get everything taken care of,” you said, rubbing your eyes. 

Ella sighed with relief, “Thanks, I’ll send it over right now.” 

The phone call ended and you looked at it, puzzled. It was 2:18 am. You groaned, begging for just 6 hours of sleep since yesterday’s job had kept you busy for 20 hours straight. You were just about to roll back over when your email notification chimed. You groaned again and reached for your phone. Ella’s travel itinerary. 

You shot up into a seated position, a gasp escaping your throat as you realized the departure date and time. Today, at 5:30 am. You had less than three hours to be ready and at the airport for a trip you hadn’t even packed for. 

You immediately jumped out of bed, never mind straightening it—you ran straight for the closet, pulled your luggage from the corner and threw it onto the bed and began simultaneously throwing any seemingly relevant article of clothing into the case while the phone was pressed between your ear and shoulder, catching the airline up to speed with changes to be made. 

You pulled up a travel checklist on your phone once the phone call was over and you were assured the seat would be reserved in your name, and began checking off all things packed. Toiletries. You nearly ran to the bathroom just down the hall and flung the light on. The fluorescents crackled awake as if they were also annoyed with the current time. Reaching into the cupboard, you pulled out your travel bag and began filling it with absolutely everything you might need, never-mind conserving space. With that and your makeup bag in hand, you glanced in the mirror as you were about to turn back towards your bedroom. Your hair was tussled and matted in some places and your eyes were red and puffy. You sighed—knowing you had to be presentable at all times or the agency would be pissed—and pulled out your brush and bare minimum makeup, and got to work. 

Hair flattened reasonably and tied into a ponytail, face masked of the lack of sleep, and figure-flattering slacks and a blouse pulled on, you looked back at the clock. It read 4:03. Fuck. 

Thank god there was no shortage of cabs around here, you managed to run out of the house while pulling flats onto your feet and get all of your belongings into one, making it to the gate right at boarding time. There was no sign of the client in sight, but given that he would’ve boarded with first class, that didn’t surprise you. The desk attendant ushered you through, your heart pounding from all of the running and anxiety. As you boarded the plane and looked down at your assignment, you realized you had also been booked first class. You frowned slightly, wondering if it was a mistake, but then looked up to the seat beside your client, waiting for you. He didn’t even look up from his book as you stopped in front of him, shoulder length locks slightly obscuring his peripheral. 

“Excuse me, sir.” You said quietly. 

Hazel eyes, thick furrowed brows, and a slight frown met yours as his finger ran down the page of his book, marking the spot as he closed it and began to stand up and move out of your way. Moving wasn’t particularly easy, you realized as—good Lord, he is tall— he was towering over your frame, forcing you to take small steps backwards until he could stand upright and allow you to get to your seat. You felt your cheeks flush as you brushed against his bicep on your way in. 

Once you both had settled back in and the rest of the plane attendants and passengers went on with their process, you had expected a chance to introduce yourself. 

But he simply opened his book again, adjusting his far too long body in the seat and began to read again. 

After a moment or two, you cleared your throat, “forgive me sir, I’m not sure if the agency had a chance to bring you up to speed this morning...Ella was assigned to you but she’s caught the flu, I’m...” you barely got through your introduction when those piercing hazel eyes shot up at you again. 

“Nice to meet you. I’m Adam.” He said with a forced, small smile, and returned to his book. 

You nodded after a moment, understanding his desire to end the discussions there.


	2. Adam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The flight was mostly quiet. The agency didn’t send you a list of outrageous requests for Adam and he himself seemed perfectly fine to talk to the stewardess when she made rounds for refreshments. It was quite relieving considering the divas you normally look after. 

“Black coffee, please.” He said, his voice low and smooth. A genuine smile touched his eyes as he thanked her. You felt bad for the girl as you could tell she was being charmed and losing her composure. 

Once you landed and found the driver assigned to this leg of your trip, the two of you went to collect the luggage. You were exchanging pleasantries with the elderly gentleman and hauling a large suitcase of Adam’s off of the conveyer belt when you felt a presence behind you. Avoiding getting dragged down the line with the bag, you ignored it and continued trying to pull the bag, when suddenly long arms reached around you and big hands grabbed the bag and easily removed it from the line. You stumbled a little, your back pressed against a firm, warm wall of abdomen before you regained your balance and looked around.

You were expecting a kind civilian. A traveling solider, perhaps. You were not expecting it to be Adam. 

“Thank you.” You managed to get out, feeling embarrassed. 

“Here, please let me carry it,” his warm voice said softly. His hand wrapped around the strap and heaved it onto his broad shoulder.

You allowed yourself one moment to admire those shoulders that didn’t overcompensate even a little for the heavy bag, your mind wandering to how strong he must be to make this look so easy. 

“Um. Okay, thank you. R-Right this way, sir.” You motioned forward in the direction of the driver, who was already 10 paces ahead. 

“Adam.” He corrected, striding past you with ease. You swore you saw a smile tease the corner of his mouth. 

_Adam_ , you mentally corrected. 

You sat in the passenger seat, getting to know perhaps one of the friendliest people you’d ever met in New York City, and were pleased you’d get some small interaction with this gentle old soul called Henry for the next week. When you glanced in the rearview mirror at a stoplight, you saw those intense hazel eyes looking out of the tinted window. His posture was poised, back straight and hands folded neatly in his lap. His chest rose and fell evenly with deep, steady breaths. You were still studying his face when he blinked and all of a sudden his eyes were staring back into yours. 

It shocked you at first, had he actually noticed you looking at him? 

“Adam, Henry says we’ll be arriving soon. Is there anywhere you’d like to stop before we get to the hotel?” You hoped your question seemed intentional instead of like the smooth recovery that it was. 

“No, thank you, I’m quite alright.” 

You nodded and tried to busy yourself with the folder of accommodations and itineraries on your lap, your eyes not daring to look into any mirrors for the rest of the trip. 

It was only moments later that Henry pulled into the hotel’s parking lot and up to the curbside drop off area. You both hopped out of the car, grabbing the bags from the trunk, when to your surprise—again—Adam appeared behind the two of you, grabbing the largest bag and waiting for the two of you to fill the rest onto the dolly that had just appeared with an eager bellboy. 

The doors opened to the hotel lobby, revealing beautifully polished marble floors and dark mahogany walls that reached for the tall, domed ceiling in beautifully-carved arches. You proceeded to check in with the front desk which seemed miles away across the vast lobby floor, while Adam and Henry waited by the elevator. 

“Hello, I’m checking in for Adam Driver. He should have a suite booked. And, also myself. A room was booked for me, as well.” 

The receptionist nodded with a permanent smile plastered to his face and pulled up the assignments. His face faltered for just one second, but then his eyes met yours with a scary kind of hospitality-warmth. 

“Okay, here is two keys for Mr. Driver’s room, which is a two-room suite, number 811. End of the hall, as requested,” he said as he passed a small envelope across the counter. 

“Great! Where am I staying?” You said, pocketing the keys. 

He passed over your keys, room 804. You thanked him and hurried to the gentlemen waiting at the elevator. 

“Henry, Adam’s room is all set up and waiting, so we’ve got it handled from here, you’re free to go,” you said, motioning to the bellboy still guarding the bags. 

“I’m only 10 minutes away, just give me a call if you have anywhere you’d like to go, Mr. Driver,” he said warmly as he patted the bellboy on the shoulder. 

He nodded at you with a smile that produced the same from your own face, and left. You corralled both men into the elevator and made your ascent up to the 8th floor. Adam’s broad figure towered over both you and the bellboy in the tiny elevator. You considered making conversation for a moment, but ultimately just willed the elevator to move faster. 

You glanced at your phone which had two text messages from Ella and one email from the agency. 

Just got checked in at the hotel, exhausted!!! You wrote. 

Your phone vibrated back.

So glad your flight went well! I am SO sick. But he’s always been pretty quiet and easy going—should be a piece of cake! Check back in later. Xoxo 

You smiled at your phone before pocketing it as the elevator opened up into the hallway. 

You followed the bellboy to the end of the hall on the right and slid the keycard through the reader, opening the door. 

A small foyer opened up into the common area of the suite. It was a beautiful, boasting room that held a fancy seating area lit with a chandelier and a large, stone fireplace. Around the corner, you could see a modest—yet elegant—kitchen, with a large island and multiple barstools. You motioned for the bellboy to follow you and cleared your throat, “We’ll be placing Adam’s bags in the master bedroom. Is the kitchen already stocked?” 

“Y-yes ma’am.” He nearly jumped forward and led you through two double doors near the kitchen. The curtains in the room had been drawn back, drenching the beige floors and beautiful wooden-framed bed in warm sunlight. 

“Here is fine.” You said, as he began unloading the luggage. 

“These two will go to my room, if you don’t mind. 804.” You pointed to your suitcases. He nodded eagerly and looked back and forth between you and Adam. 

“Thanks so much,” Adam said, a sincere smile spread across his face. He went for a handshake and passed the young man a bill. The bellboy thanked him and hurried along with your luggage. 

“So, Mr.—I mean, Adam,” you glanced over your shoulder to measure his irritation, “sorry, is this room to your liking?” 

He studied you for a second, “Yes, it’s fine.” 

“Great. Uh, where are your suits? I can have those steamed and return them to you. I can hang up anything else you’d like in the closet, i think it’s just over here...” you crossed the room and drew back a door, revealing a stunning walk in closet. 

Adam picked up the heavier suitcase and brought it over to you, dropping it on an ottoman, “Would you like a drink?” 

Your head swiveled back to him rather fast as you unzipped the suitcase, “Oh! No, you shouldn’t—I should be getting you a drink. What would you like?” You blushed a little, thinking of the horrible idea he must have of you about doing your job. 

“I’m perfectly capable to go open the refrigerator door,” he chuckled, “and you don’t have to wait on me hand and foot, just for future reference. I can hang up my own sweaters. Water okay?” He had barely finished his sentence in the room, as his long strides took him towards the door. You looked after him as you pulled the last of his suit bags out of the suitcase and he reappeared with two water bottles. 

“Thanks,” you said. The water was particularly refreshing. You hadn’t realized you’d had little to eat or drink since dinner last night, and it was now lunch time. 

“Can I order any food for you? Would you prefer to eat at a restaurant?” You asked, hopefully that he would see you were a little competent at your job. 

He thought for a moment, his lips pursed, “No, I’ll have food service bring something up later.” 

Your brow furrowed but you nodded, feeling a little useless and dismissed. You tried not to let it show. 

You decided now was as good of a time as ever to get the suits to the laundry and went full-on handler mode, “Oh, um, this is my phone number, in case the agency didn’t get it to you. I already have yours, but you can call or text me with anything you need. You don’t have anything scheduled for the rest of today,” you said, pulling up a mental image of the daily schedule, “because that one radio interview got cancelled. So you can rest up today, and then tomorrow you have a panel and press junket. I’ll be here to let the styling crew into the lobby, so just be up by seven o’clock to receive us...or should I give you a wake up call?” You paused, looking to his face for some kind of confirmation. 

You realized he wasn’t anticipating this pause, as you caught him watching you intensely. You had been pacing across the room, toward the door. What was that look on his face? You wondered. You stiffened ever so slightly, and broke the spell on him. 

“I’m...forgive me, I’m tired from the travel. Yes, why don’t we plan on you calling me tomorrow morning?” He rubbed his forehead and shook his head slightly, turning away from you. 

You nodded, “Sure thing, I’ll let you get some rest.” 

Just as you were leaving, you realized you still had both copies of the key card in your pocket. The bedroom door was still open, and you rounded the corner into it, a breath hitched in your throat as you stopped suddenly and saw him in the attached bathroom, already stripped of his shirt. His back and arm muscles bulging as he leaned in to turn on the shower. You felt your face flush immediately, you had to get out of there without him noticing, least he think of you as a complete pervert. You quietly set one of the key cards down on the dresser in arms reach, and then without breathing, you turned to leave them room. Your footsteps were quiet enough to go undetected, but your heartbeat was filling your ears. You still managed to hear the sliding door to the shower being pulled open and hurried out, not daring to look back and see him naked. 

Your room was notably smaller than his suite, which was to be expected. However, it was still a nice set up. A beautiful king-sized bed took up most of the room, but there was a small sitting area, a desk, set of drawers, and mini fridge. A TV was mounted to the wall. You began unpacking your clothes, hanging up your nicer items in the bathroom. You turned on the shower and let the steam fill the room to release the wrinkles in your dresses and skirts. Warmth swirled around you and you found yourself pulling off your clothes, eager to get the grime of all-day-travel and no sleep washed off of you. You grabbed your toiletry bag and stepped eagerly into the shower. 

Sleep came easily that night after the day you had.


	3. Lovely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next few days in NYC went by fast. You found Adam to be incredibly self sufficient, hardly having a need for security, because he never really went out. Most clients would be shopping and partying away their time in nightclubs, but Adam chose to read quietly in his lofty hotel suite. His only request was a few bottles of wine on hand. He didn’t have you going on runs for food, preferring to have some things delivered to the lobby and brought up by the waitstaff. You did a light grocery trip to fill in his fridge and your own midweek. 

He was a dream to work for really. He was quiet and agreeable with the styling team. You had watched him get ready a few times, noting that he was always polite and cordial with them. But, sometimes—when he thought no eyes were on him—you noticed his smile turn down. A serious look might overtake his eyes. On more than one occasion, you’d realize his eyes were watching you as you studied this behavior and looked away quickly before he could see your face flush. 

You were late waking up, and had hardly any time to make yourself presentable. You settled for a messy ponytail, a bare face with a bit of mascara, jeans and a white linen blouse. You darted out of the room and made your way out of your hotel, jogging across the street to grab coffees and bagels before making your way to his room. 

You swiped the key card and knocked, hoping your entrance was heard. 

“Adam, good morning! Sorry, I slept in a little, but I got you coffee—“ Before you could announce the bagels, Adam was standing before you, shirtless and inspecting the items in your hands. You froze, but he seemed completely unfazed. 

“Oh,” he said, “lovely. Is there an ‘everything’ bagel?” 

You stammered for a second before your brain restarted all functions, “Yeah, absolutely.” 

He gave you a heart-melting half-smile and took the coffee tray from your hand, lifting the hot to-go cup marked BLACK to his lips. 

You followed him to the kitchen and laid out the bagels and spread on a platter, taking your iced coffee from the tray and sipping it ideally while scrolling through emails. Ella had pestered you at first about how things were going, but she’d been quiet these past few days. You could hardly complain, you were busy staying in touch with the agency for updates on the travel plans moving forward. You were so engrossed in the emails that you probably wouldn’t have noticed he’d quietly moved behind you and was reading along if it weren’t for the bagel crumbs that fell onto your shoulder. 

It startled you and caused you to jump a little. Adam’s muffled, mouth-full-of-bagel laugh filled the room and was melodious to your ears. It brought out a laugh from you as well. He held his hands up in surrender and shook his head in an apology. 

“I’m sorry. I was being nosy,” he said, still chuckling.

You smiled, “That’s okay.” 

He ran a hand through his dark, wavy locks and looked at you with those twinkly, hazel eyes, “What would you say to some fresh air?” 

You shrugged your shoulders, knowing he didn’t have any appearances planned today, “I’m up for anything.” 

Moments later, Adam returned from his bedroom fully incognito. He was in jogging pants, a dark grey t-shirt, sunglasses and a hat. He clapped his hands together as you called Henry, smiling at his excitement. 

The two of you met Henry downstairs and climbed into the car. 

“Where to, sir?” Henry said pleasantly. 

“Central Park, please.” Adam smiled. 

You regarded your outfit with a sigh of relief. No, today would not have been a good day for business skirts or heels. Adam’s fan base was small enough that this day-time excursion would be fine without security as long as he didn’t draw attention to himself, but just in case—you asked Henry to keep the car on and kept your cellphone in your back pocket. 

You stepped out into the warm sunshine. It was late spring and beautiful in the park. Adam climbed out of the car and stretched, basking in the sun as well. “I’d like to just take a walk,” he said. 

You nodded, and motioned forward, offering him to take the lead. He nodded and walked, swinging his long arms a few times. From this point of view, he was completely normal. His stride was longer than yours, forcing you to walk a little faster than comfortable to keep up with him. His hair peaked out from the hat and you briefly wondered what it would feel like between your fingers. You shook the thought away and focused on keeping up with him. 

Almost as if he heard your struggling, he turned around suddenly and waited for your approach. “So,” he began with your name, “I don’t know a lot about you.” 

You nodded, “Well, I have been working as an assistant—handler—whatever you want to call it, for 5 years. It’s given me a lot of opportunities for travel, which I wouldn’t have had before,” you looked up to see him studying your face, noting he slowed his pace for you, “and that’s because I come from a small town just outside of Richmond, Virginia. Pretty much nothing going on there. I’m 25 years old and a Libra, if that makes any difference,” you chuckled, “and maybe one day I’ll give up all the traveling I do to own a couple of dogs and take up painting again.” 

You smiled and looked at him again. This time a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Nice to get to know you,” he nodded. 

“What about you?” You asked, cocking your head to the side. 

Adam cleared his throat, squinted his eyes a little—as if he was considering telling you the truth, “Well. I’ve got this beautiful midwestern accent—don’t know if you’ve noticed,” he chuckled, “I grew up mostly in Indiana. I joined the Marines after 9/11 happened...” he trailed off for a moment, you were sure memories were consuming him. 

“And uh, was discharged after three years. Honorably, I might add. I studied at Juilliard, moved to LA and was able to land a few lucky roles. That’s about it. I’m a...scorpio? I’ve never kept up with that crap. I want to learn pottery just so that I can recreate that scene from _Ghost._ ” He shrugged, smiling to himself. 

You laughed a little at the last part. You hadn’t known much about him beforehand, but much of his demeanor now made sense. Adam stretches his arms behind his head, pulling at his elbows and sighed, “it’s nice to to get some fresh air, don’t you think?” 

You nodded, “I think ‘fresh’ might be a stretch. Considering we’re still in New York City. But yes, I think it’s lovely.” 

“Mm.” He smiled in affirmation.


	4. Guarded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have been busying yourself with work. The constant updates pouring in. Multiple trips with Adam daily for photo shoots, interviews and signings. A few times though over the last week in New York, Adam had caught your attention. Between stolen glances and what some may consider to be flirty smirks, he often seemed cold and shut off. You knew from the walk you went on with him that he had warmth, but for some reason...you couldn’t find it. At tonight’s event, you caught a glimpse of a pained look when the host had turned his attention away from Adam. For a split second only, but you noticed. You wondered what thoughts could be pestering him. 

As you ducked out of the car, you waved at Henry and waited while Adam climbed out of his already open door. He nodded at the doormen and waved at the single paparazzi taking his and your photo. You covered your face with your bag and walked straight into the lobby. 

Once in his suite, he headed straight for the bathroom and you heard the shower turn on. You blushed slightly, and began packing for him. You made a lot of noise in moving things around, hoping he’d hear you and not be surprised to see you in his room. His melodic voice echoed in the bathroom as he sang to himself. Deep and rich, he belted out a Frank Sinatra song—one of your favorites, not that there was any way he’d know that—and you smiled, humming along quietly as you folded his sweaters. 

He came out with a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair soaking wet and sticking to his neck. He didn’t seem phased to see you there. 

You on the other hand nearly fell back at the sight of him, immediately feeling intrusive and nearly sprinted for the door, apologizing and swearing as you hurried. 

He held up a hand, his eyes not even looking at you as he moved to his suitcase which you had begun filling, “No, that’s okay. I just didn’t have a change of clothes in the bathroom.” 

You hesitated, your back turned to him, still wanting to give him privacy. 

You could’ve sworn you heard him chuckle as his footsteps receded back into the bathroom. 

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding and turned around, ready to continue packing. But the bathroom door was left slightly open and in the foggy mirror you could see the blurred outline of his body as he redressed. 

_What is he thinking?! Does he want me to see him naked?_

You quickly retreated into his closet, out of sight from the bathroom and began loading his suits into the garment bags and respective suitcase. His voice startled you as it approached behind you, “Would you like to eat here tonight?”

You turned to face him—in a grey sweater and casual navy blue chinos—“I—sure. That’d be great. Do you want me to order take out?” 

He half-smiled and shook his head, “I’ll take care of it.” Before you could protest, he was out of your sight. 

Once you had packed everything besides his toiletries, you exited his bedroom. Adam was seated by the fireplace, reading through a stack of papers. A new script, you guessed. Two platters of food sat on the island in the kitchen. When he saw you, he folded down the corner of the page he was on and rose to meet you in the kitchen.

“Dig in.” 

The meal was wonderful. Perfectly hot still, even though you weren’t sure when it had arrived. You thanked him for ordering for you and he nodded, sipping his wine. 

He ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat, “So what time are we going to the airport tomorrow?”

You picked up both of your empty plates and took them to the sink, “I’m going to call you at 5:45 and I’ll be here by 6 o’clock to collect you. The front desk is going have someone waiting to collect your luggage and then Henry will have us at the airport by 6:35.” 

He sighed, “Not a bad first leg of the trip, huh?”

“No, I think it’s been great! You’ve been getting great feedback. London’s going to be even better.” You smiled, topping off his wine-glass. 

He looked up at you quizzically but the expression was gone before you had a chance to ask. 

“I’m going to turn in now, unless you need anything else tonight?” 

“I—no thank you,” he said quietly, taking his wine glass with him to his bedroom. 

You saw yourself out and straight to bed. The alarm would be going off sooner than you’d like.


	5. Harsh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: blood/injury, little bit of a rude boy

You had been working for Adam for over a week now. You honestly mourned the idea of this being a fill-in job, over in less than 2 weeks. The flight was long and quiet. You were reading or watching shows to pass time. Adam started off drinking coffee and watching a show on his iPad. At some point during the endless flight, he’d drifted off to sleep for a moment. His body jerked him awake and he looked around, unsure of where he was. He seemed a little embarrassed, so you pretended not to notice. 

The hotel in London was even fancier than New York. You were checked in immediately and offered cocktails from a waiter in a tuxedo. This time, your rooms were on separate floors. You imagined it was because his suite and the others took up so much room on his floor. You were overseeing the attendant putting away Adam’s luggage when  
your phone buzzed. 

_How’s it going?_ Ella chimed. 

_It’s been great. He’s very easy-going like you said. The tour has been phenomenal. I’ll be sad to see him go and return to the usual diva drama._

_LOL. I know right? Well, I just got a temp assignment for a TV show. They’re filming the pilot right now. Talk about divas._

You thought for a moment. 

_Hey, has he ever done anything around you that seemed flirty?_

_ADAM? No. Never—he’s always just read his books or locked himself in his room. Why????_

You panicked, hoping you hadn’t just opened a can of worms. 

_I thought he was flirting with a waitress, but he was probably just being polite! Didn’t know if he had a habit of having girls over or not, LOL._

You hoped the lie was accepted. For some reason, you now wanted to guard those moments with Adam. 

_Haha! That must’ve been great to witness. But no I’ve never seen him so much as do a double take on anyone. Kinda weird, right?_

You smiled and put down your phone. Adam was seated in the luxurious living area one leg crossed over the other, his knee bouncing absentmindedly as he read. 

Once the hotel attendant was dismissed, you took your luggage and bid Adam farewell, letting him know you’d check in within the next few hours.  
His eyes met you with uncertainty, “Where are you staying?” 

You shuffled with your bags at the door, “I’m actually a floor down, here’s my room number and my spare key,” you winced hoping that didn’t sound like an attempt to get him to come over, “just for safe keeping or—an emergency I guess. And I have your spare copy as well.” 

A smile touched his face and he nodded silently, returning to his book. 

You had just finished showering and unpacking. You’d also gathered tote full of your clothes to send to the laundry room along with Adam’s when there was a knock on the door. You assumed it was the maid, since you’d called for collection of the totes, and opened the door in your robe.

“Hello, thank you for coming on such short notice—“ you greeted, bringing the totes into view, but you were stopped short as Adam’s tall, broad figure took up all of your doorway. His eyes were wide and glued to you as you stumbled backward. 

“Adam! I’m—I’m sorry, I was expecting the maid service to come.“ you held your robe tight against your body, horrified that you were entirely naked underneath and feet away from him. 

He shook his head and averted his gaze, “No that’s fine...I—I could have texted you,” he cleared his throat, “I was going to request dinner and thought I’d ask if you wanted anything.” 

You clutched your robe still, surprised by his thoughtfulness and him walking down to your room, “Um, yes. That’d be great actually. If you can give me a minute I’ll...” you shuffled back and forth between your feet. 

“Yeah, no of course. Just—uh, text me. I’ll...be upstairs.” He nodded and closed the door. You stood in shock, still clutching the fabric of your robe. _Had Adam Driver just checked you out?_

You were both pretty quiet during dinner. Adam seemed lost in thought about something and you had the entire scene that just unfolded on replay in your head. You hardly noticed he had already stood up and begun clearing the plates from the small breakfast nook in his suite. When you snapped out of your instant-replay, you felt a pang of guilt. 

He already had his hand on your plate, but you pulled it back, determined to be useful. 

“No, please. Let me. You shouldn’t be doing this.” 

He pulled back, hard. His voice seemed annoyed, “Don’t be ridiculous. I am perfectly capable of clearing a table.” 

“Adam, honestly, just let me—“ grabbed the plate with both hands and the force of your tug sent it flying to the floor. 

Adam groaned in frustration. 

You tried to ignore him, rushing to your knees, cursing under your breath as you picked up broken pieces of china and put them into a napkin. 

“Here let me—“ Adam reached down and you shooed his hand away.

He grabbed the rest of the plates rather roughly and took them to the kitchen counter. 

You glanced up anxiously at him as he rinsed a plate and winced as you felt a sharp, hot pain slice across your palm. 

“Oh fuck!” You hissed, dropping the napkin full of ceramic shards and clutching your wound. 

You stood up, blood already seeping between your fingers and began to feel dizzy from the sight. Adam was already beside you. 

“Let me see,” he said in a soft, stern voice. 

You whimpered as he moved your arm, you let go of your hand to reveal an inch long gash across your palm. You winced and turned your face away, feeling your knees and arms going numb. 

Adam’s eyes were on you in a second, studying your face and dabbing away blood from your hand. He held it up to his face, inspecting how deep the cut was, and then silently walked you to the kitchen. 

“Adam, it-it’s okay. You don’t need to do anything, I’ll just c-call for a first aid k-kit,” you said, feeling embarrassed. 

He ignored you. Despite your protests, he lifted you at the hips and sat you down on the counter top with ease, pressing your back against the wall. He grabbed a dry cloth and pressed it to your palm. 

“Hold this here,” he instructed. 

You nodded and he retreated to his bedroom. You could only imagine how childish you looked in this moment. Afraid of your own blood. 

Adam reappeared a few seconds later with a small white box. You furrowed your eyebrows, realizing he must carry first aid as a habit from his Marine Corps days.

He scanned you with his eyes. 

“Good, you haven’t passed out yet.” He said, sarcasm touching his voice. 

You frowned as he opened the small first aid kit and picked out the items to use. He pulled your hand and the cloth away from your body and held it out flat as he gently ran a disinfectant cloth over the cut. You settled on watching his face rather than his actions. His brows were furrowed, eyes focused and mouth tense as he worked. He tossed aside the wipe and reached for the bandage and Neosporin. 

You sighed, growing more anxious about him taking care of you, “Adam, really. I can handle—“ 

“Will you _please_ shut the fuck up?” He raised his eyes to you, his voice dripping with irritation. 

You recoiled. Averting your eyes from him, he was still looking at you for a second before he shook his head slightly as he pushed a small amount of the gel onto his fingertip and then ran it lightly across your cut. You didn’t look at him still. He placed the clean bandage and wrapped it in a piece of gauze to keep it tight against your skin and took a step back. 

You took a deep breath and looked up at him, “Thank you. I’m sorry for making a mess.” 

“Just be more careful.” He said curtly, collecting his items and returning them to his room. 

“And call housekeeping to finish cleaning up!” he yelled from behind his shut door. 

You nodded to yourself. Next you picked up your phone and dialed the hotel, without moving from the countertop. The front desk attendant would have someone up right away. 

You hung up and rubbed your temples, imagining Adam in the other room filing a complaint with the agency for having to literally clean up your mess. You had been groaning to yourself, so you didn’t hear Adam return to the kitchen. His voice made you jump. 

“Are you hemophobic?” His voice had softened slightly, but the annoyance was still audible. 

You nodded, still clutching your head in your hands, “I’ve been passing out for blood draws and cuts ever since I can remember.”

“Well, you won’t need stitches. It was shallow. His voice was gruff. There was a pause, “I’m...sorry. If I was too harsh.” 

You dropped your hands and looked up at him, “No, I’m sorry. You shouldn’t—I’m sorry. I think I’m not doing a very good job. That’s what started this.” 

He took a step forward so that he was directly in front of you. You straightened up your posture nervously. His eyes met yours with sincerity, “Please, stop treating me however you would normally treat your clients, okay? Whoever it is you’d normally work for that would have you running around after them picking up all of their shit and doing every little thing for them...that’s not me. I know I requested an assistant for travel, but I don’t need you to clean up my dirty dishes. Just help me navigate this press tour. Help me get where I need to be. Keep me company. All of the other shit, forget it. If I need help for little things, I’ll ask you. I don’t want a babysitter.” 

You swallowed a lump in your throat and nodded, “Okay, I won’t. I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” 

He shook his head, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth, “You haven’t.” 

A knock at the door let you both know the clean up service you’d requested was here. Adam patted your knee reassuringly as he left to answer the door. 

That night you lay in bed, a finger running over the soft gauze wrapped around your hand, thinking about his quick action and his short temper. You were embarrassed to have shown him such a silly weakness. But even still, he took care of you. You thought about his requests. He didn’t want to feel like you were there to take care of him like your other clients. 

You sighed, shaking your head. _What am I supposed to do then?_


	6. Golden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam is too much of an old soul to know what Instagram is

You stood in darkness, watching the hustling crew members working in unison. What seemed like chaos was actually synchronized thoughts, all aiming to make the perfect picture. The only lights in the room were pointed toward the back wall, or the soft glow from computer screens. 

Adam stood in the center of a white backdrop, beautiful and oblivious to the noise around him. The styling crew had arranged his hair perfectly. His skin gleamed under the lights. Tanner than usual, you noted. The photo shoot director had insisted on a spray tan. You thought for sure Adam wouldn’t agree to something so silly, but surprisingly he obliged like it didn’t even bother him. 

The photographer in the center of the room spoke with a bellowing voice, giving instructions and praise sporadically. 

Adam changed his positions frequently. He was seated on a stool, one knee raised by a rail. He would alternate between dazzling smiles that caused laugh lines to show on his cheeks and brooding stares into the camera. 

You stood near a desk that held a computer screen that was relaying images instantly from the camera. You looked back and forth between the images and Adam, mesmerized by both. He was seated with his arms folded across his chest. 

You looked up and met his eyes, you drew in a sharp breath. _Why was he looking at you?_ You lifted your hand and gave a small wave. 

Adam chuckled, still looking at you and raised a hand to his mouth to mask his smile. Your eyes flickered to the desktop and smiled at the image you had produced. He looked relaxed. 

The loud photographer’s voice broke your concentration. “I think we got it! That’s a wrap!”

The chaotic crew around you began quickly shuffling to break down the props and lights. Adam rose and shook hands with everyone who he passed, nodding in thanks for their work. He approached you and clasped his hands together. 

“Where to next?” 

You pulled up the itinerary on your phone, “You are free for the next 16 hours. What would you like to do?” 

He pursed his lips and thought for a moment, “Back to the hotel room, I think. Yeah.” 

You texted the driver and led Adam out of the studio. His tour was a bit more publicized here, fans were forming crowds outside of most places you went. As such, security had been hired. Two men would lead Adam around, night and day. They were quiet and out of the way, which was a relief. Adam always stopped to greet as many of the fans that he could and sign autographs for them. He was always polite and cheerful towards them, but there again you noticed a sense of reserve about him. A look in his face that he wasn’t quite comfortable. 

The security pressed forward until he was at the car door, with you trailing not far behind. 

Back at the hotel room, Adam went straight for a shower, pulling his shirt over his head almost immediately as he stepped into his suite. You had grown accustomed to his brazen attitude towards being half-naked, so it didn’t strike the same reaction it used to. You went to grab your laptop from the breakfast nook and noticed 4 new emails from the agency. You sighed and plopped down on the bench to read them. Minutes must’ve passed by without you noticing because eventually Adam walked out of his bedroom in nothing but a pair of briefs, his hair hanging damp against his shoulders. He walked right past you towards the refrigerator, you panicked as he turned around, raising a water bottle to his lips and his eyebrows raised in surprise as he saw you. 

“Oh, I thought you left,” he said as he took a seat across from you, completely unbothered. His body was free from the hair product and spray tan. He looked normal and perfect again. 

You closed your laptop and began putting it in your bag, “I was—I got distracted by emails. I’m sorry.” 

He reached out his arm and waved his hand, “No, no—it’s fine. You don’t have to leave.” 

You paused, unsure what to do. Deciding the surroundings of his suite were nicer than your cramped room, you pulled out your laptop again and nodded, “Okay, thank you.” 

“Mmhm.”

As you read, you could feel his eyes on you. You desperately wanted to look up and call him out on it, but were afraid of an outburst like the last time you were both sat here. Instead, you continued working. Focusing on the screen in front of you. 

“Does your mind ever shut off?” 

His voice called your attention and you looked up. He was leaning forward on his elbows, regarding you with his head tilted to one side. 

“I’m—no?” _is he offended?_

“You seem to work a lot, I mean, fuck. I’m just wondering if you ever, you know, relax?” A smile was teasing the corner of his mouth as he spoke. 

You shut the computer abruptly and went to the kitchen. For some reason, his small tauntings struck you and made you _really_ want to prove him wrong. For some reason, you wanted to prove you knew how to have fun to Adam. You pulled out the wine bottle and gave yourself a heavy pour. You brought a clean glass and the bottle in your other hand and set them down on the table, reclaiming your seat. 

“What’s this about?” He asked, eyeing you as he took the bottle and poured himself a glass. 

“Me, relaxing. Shutting off my mind. As you requested,” you said, lifting the glass to your lips. 

He smirked, raising his glass to his mouth, “It was just a question actually—a wondering. Not really a request,” you set down your wine glass and he shook his head, “but—no don’t stop, I approve. Please, continue.” He chuckled, clinking his glass against yours. 

You pulled your legs up onto the bench, hugging them to your chest as you looked out of the window. You heard the _click_ of his phone camera and looked at him in surprise. 

“What are you doing?” You laughed, trying to pull his phone out of his hands. 

He laughed, his eyes thinned with his growing smile and he held the phone out of reach, “Here. Here!” He typed for a second, “I sent it to you. You can post it to your Instantpic or...whatever it is the kids use these days.” 

You laughed your eyebrows furrowed as you pulled out your phone to look at what he sent. There you were, basked in the golden hour trickling in through the window, sipping your wine in a London breakfast nook. It was a beautiful picture. You looked beautiful from his point of view. 

“Do you really not know that it’s called Instagram?” 

He shrugged and glanced at his phone again. A smile crept across his face that made you wonder why he wanted to take the picture in the first place.


	7. Breathless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One wine bottle turned into three that night. You were curled up on a loveseat while Adam lie lazily across the couch. He’d put on a grey t-shirt and lounge pants before you both settled in for drinking. His body stretched from end-to-end and in your foggy haze you thought of Michaelangelo’s paintings. 

He was rambling about some indie film while you watched him. His movements were animated and big, his eyes twinkling. This was the most genuinely happy he’d seemed since you met him. The thought of that made you frown, you wondered if there could be any truth to it. You hoped not. 

Adam was looking at you, puzzled. You realized he was waiting for you to say something. 

You cleared your throat, “I’m sorry. What?” 

He chuckled, sitting up and pointing at you, “You’re drunk aren’t you?” 

You flushed, “N-No, _of course_ not. I mean, sometimes when people have three...no, four glasses of wine, they can get drunk but,” you paused to hiccup and cursed under your breath, “that’s not the case for me.” 

Adam’s laughter filled your ears, a deep rich sound. You felt like he was teasing you again and threw a pillow at his face. 

It bounced off of him and he laughed, his eyes wild with excitement, “What you think that hurt? What else you got?” He gestured with both hands towards his body and you raised an eyebrow. You picked up and threw another pillow. This one he caught, and stood up quickly. You raised your hands in defense, a laugh escaping your mouth as he swatted you with the pillow. 

He pulled your hands away from your face, smiling widely as he hit you over the head with the pillow, “C’mon, you’re not even _trying._ ” 

You stood up on wobbling legs, giggling, and pushed into a thick wall of chest and abdomen. Even with both hands, you couldn’t move him. He laughed at your efforts for a second before wrapping his fingers around your wrists and pulling your arms off of him with ease. You laughed, breathless from your efforts, continuing to try to overpower him. But he made it very clear that wouldn’t be happening as he held your hands at your side. 

When you realized he wasn’t putting up a fight anymore, you tilted your head up to see his face. The expression there was more severe than before. His eyes were still twinkling, but the playfulness had changed. You searched his eyes, the drunkenness masking the movement made so that he had stepped closer to your body, his hands still clutching your wrists. Even though his face was tilted toward you, he seemed feet away. 

He lowered at the shoulders so that you were inches from his face. The closest you’d ever been. Your hand reached up to trace the freckles decorating his skin. He let a breath out through his nose, which seemed like an impatient gesture. Yet he remained still, his eyelids fluttering. 

Without a warning, his entire body leaned forward. You thought he was certainly about to topple over and take you down with him— _giant bastard_ —and you took an unsteady step backward. Adam chuckled under his breath as his hands crept under your shirt and lay flat at the small of your back. And he stabilized himself with his body pressed to yours. His hands easily covered from the back of your hips to your spine with his fingers overlapping in the middle. You tried to look around, trying to secure your footing as Adam breathed against your neck. The sensation sent shivers down your spine. You grasped his biceps, trying to see his eyes through his tussled hair. He pulled your body tighter against his and his lips came crashing into yours. 

Your fist lightly fell against his chest as he kissed you, your eyes wide open. He smiled against your mouth and peered at you through his dark tresses, “Still fighting, huh? I’ve been wanting to do that for awhile.” 

“Adam—you’re drunk. _I’m drunk._ let’s get you to bed,” you tried to get him to nod along with you, but he shook his head in disagreement. 

“I’m actually not that drunk, and I thought you wanted to show me you knew how to have fun,” he said. His hands wandered up your back, leaving a trail of fire behind them. 

You sighed at his touch, unable to focus on anything besides it. 

Adam’s lips were at your ear, breathing evenly.

“Have you noticed I’ve been watching you?” 

You nodded, wishing the drunken stupor would fade so you could make sense of what was going on. 

“Have you thought about me, in a not-so-friendly way?” 

Your fist thudded against his chest again. His hand left your back to grab it. He picked it up and brought it back with a lot more force, causing a deep sound in his chest and making you wince. “You’ll have to hit harder than that to divert my attention, sweetheart.” 

Your breath hitched in your throat. You knew something about this was wrong, but... _what exactly was that again?_

You wracked your brain while Adam’s lips grazed your temple. Well, for one thing...he is your client. You’re assigned to work for him. The agency would not be happy. They could accuse you of abusing your job. They could even sell it to a trash magazine and make it impossible for you to get a job in this field again. 

For another thing, he must be drunk to be acting like this. _With you._ You were nobody compared to him. 

He kissed the wrinkle concentration had made between your brows, “Will you stop trying to talk yourself out of it?” He laughed and pulled back to look at you, “it can’t be your first time, right? That would be too sad.”

You rolled your eyes and ducked under his arm, pushing his away as you escaped. He stumbled backward and turned to look at you, “What? So you really _can’t_ let loose?” 

You grabbed your bag and tried to remember where your shoes could be, your frustration growing with every breath you took. You started to walk toward the entryway when Adam’s arms snaked around your waist and pulled you back against his chest.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered into the top of your head, “was that too harsh?” 

You tried pulling his hands off of you, but made little progress, “It was stupid. Just because I don’t want to mess up things with my job doesn’t make me a virgin.” 

You sighed in frustration, “Adam, you need to go to bed and so do I, and by the grace of God maybe we’re already too drunk to remember this tomorrow. You don’t want to do this, it’s just the wine. You probably don’t even realize it’s me, you’re so shitfaced. I’m your assistant.”

His arms tightened around you almost painfully as he muttered your name in your ear, “I already told you, I’m not that drunk. You keep mentioning ‘bed’ though, and that’s starting to sound nice,” One of his arms released your waist and swooped behind your knees, knocking you off of your feet. 

“Is that really all you took from what I said?!” You struggled against his arms. Suddenly, you were being cradled as he shuffled toward his bedroom door. Trying to wiggle free didn’t matter. He wasn’t phased. Every moment happened so fast, you were scared to blink. He dumped you onto his bed, your limbs thudded against each other as he flipped you onto your back. The hem of your shirt had ridden up to your ribs, exposing your stomach. You whimpered as he crawled over you, his hair hanging forward, obscuring his face. 

“Do you feel it too?” His voice was low and sultry. 

You nodded, the anxiety that was wracking your body causing you to shiver. You did feel the mutual attraction though. You’d felt it ever since that first night in New York when you caught him staring at you. You had convinced yourself he wasn’t interested in you because of your own self-deprecating insecurities. That didn’t make it true. 

“Can I keep going?” His eyes locked yours in a stare, the sincerity left you speechless. 

You nodded again, another shiver traveled down your body. He pushed the hair on your forehead away from your face and lowered himself until his nose touched yours. His warm torso covered yours, his weight on top of you, pressing you into the bed, felt incredibly soothing. A growing heat pressed against your thigh. Adam’s chin pushed yours aside, exposing your neck. He hungrily attacked it with his mouth, a moan escaped your throat as he bruised you. You sighed, your eyes closing and you allowed yourself to succumb to the pleasure. 

The moments in Adam’s bed seemed to stretch on for hours. You were dizzy with lust and wine as he sat you up and his palms pushed up against your waist, bringing the fabric of your shirt up. His movement was quick, but his hands hovered at your chest, his thumbs on the swells of your breasts. Your arms moved above your head in compliance with his hands, as he pulled the shirt completely off. You shuddered against the cool air on your skin. He reached between his shoulders and yanked his shirt off in one fluid motion, tossing it on the floor with yours. His eyes never left your face. 

Your eyes traveled down his body, his chest rose and fell evenly. He leaned in and dug his fingers under the waistband of your underwear, yanking it down past your ass in one quick motion. The elastic of the fabric bit into your skin briefly and the roughness of the action ushered a gasp from your lips. You were now completely exposed. 

You clutched the sheets at your sides as he lowered his face to your hips. He placed sloppy kisses from one side to the other, drawing sharp breaths from you. You squirmed beneath him, suddenly feeling uneasy. You propped yourself up on your elbows and opened your mouth to speak, but were met with Adam’s pleading eyes. Eyes that pleaded _please let me have this_. 

You groaned and flung yourself back against the bed. Adam chuckled darkly as he kissed down to your center, before eagerly delving between the folds of your skin. You thrashed before him as he worked your sex quickly and expertly. His tongue flicked against you while two fingers pressed against your center. The warmth of his calloused fingers drew a moan from your throat and he took that as encouragement to press deeper. He stretched you. You felt the imminent rising of pressure in your lower abdomen and your walls gripped his fingers tightly. 

Suddenly, he withdrew. You opened your eyes, which you had only just realized were held shut tightly. He was hovering over you, completely naked. He leaned down and brushed your ears with his lips, “Not yet, sweetheart,” he whispered.

You closed your eyes as his hips crashed into yours. Your fingers tangled themselves in his hair as he thrusted against you. Only the sounds of your moans and heavy breathing echoed in the room as you moved against each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit obsessed with the bit where he makes the reader hit him harder to prove he’s a tOuGh GuY. It made me think of that one scene from the notebook when Ellie is slapping Noah. 
> 
> And yes, I think Adam *would* ask for consent...the first time, at least.


	8. Warmth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your eyes opened to reveal daylight creeping in through the curtains, your body stayed still. Your chest felt heavy. Heavier than usual. You glanced down and saw Adam’s massive arm draped across your chest. You begged your heart to beat quietly so he couldn’t feel it, and moved your gaze to his face. He was breathing softly in your ear, his lips parted slightly. His hair covered his eyes. He was so beautiful. You took this moment to study the freckles decorating his face. 

You recalled last night. The wine. _Yes, the wine_. Your head throbbed in agreement. Eyes still trained on his face, you brushed your fingertips against your swollen lips, remembering how Adam’s own had covered them, bruised them. You smiled against your fingertips. 

“Good morning.” Adam’s soft, sleepy voice broke the silence and your concentration. 

His eyes were still closed and a smile teased the corners of his mouth. He hadn’t moved his head away from you, and his arm still lay across your chest. 

_Why hadn’t he moved? How long had he been lying there, awake?_

You couldn’t begin to imagine why he hadn’t snuck out in the middle of the night, although it _was_ him that initiated. 

“Good morning,” you said hesitantly, deciding to let him decide what happens next. 

He opened his eyes slowly, blinking and stretching. He pulled his arm away from your body and propped himself up on his elbows, his face hovering quite close to yours. You held your breath and waited for him to speak. 

He leaned in and brushed his lips against your ear, a whisper tickling the skin on your neck, “I’m hungry.” 

You felt...confused. _No explanation?_ You shook the thoughts racing in your head and sat up, pulling the duvet off of your legs, and stood up, stretching your arms above your head. Your head was sore, the light from the window stung your eyes. The cool air of the room raised goosebumps on your bare legs, making you very aware that you had never redressed last night. You felt his eyes on you. You tried to ignore the heat on your cheeks and quickly reached for your wrinkled outfit laying on the floor. 

Adam was quicker. He snatched the garments and hid them behind his back, a dazzling smile causing his eyes to thin and his nose to crinkle, “That suits you better, actually. This,” he looked at his hands, “—this is basically garbage. Wrinkles. Bleh,” he feigned a gag as he smiled and balled up your clothes behind his back. 

You rolled your eyes, “Okay, Adam. There’s no food here right now. Also no clothes of _mine._ You don’t actually expect me to go get coffee like this,” you gestured down your figure, “do you?” 

His eyes followed your hand and hunger flickered across his expression, only you didn’t think it was a desire for food. You blushed as he examined you so brazenly, “Yes,” he began, eyes still glued to your figure, “we’ll have to sort something out,” he shifted where he sat, “but I like you like that.”

You shook your head, unsure of where this sudden, kind of aggressive desire had come from. 

You folded your arms across your chest and shifted your weight. 

He sighed, perhaps sensing your irritation. Running a hand through his hair, he stood up. He sauntered towards you and stood inches away. You turned your face up toward him, maintaining your body posture. He peered down at you, a smile creeping across his face. 

“What?” You finally asked. 

“Can I have your keycard?” He asked innocently. 

You sighed and went to your bag which was still in the kitchen. _Maybe he’s on a power trip and wants to pick out your outfit or something,_ you mused. You dug around in it until you found the tiny envelope marked with your room number and pulled out a key card. When you turned around, you realized Adam was leaning against the door frame, his eyes had been plastered to your backside. He had pulled his lounge pants on, but remained shirtless. You pushed the key card into his chest and walked to the kitchen to get water. He raised an eyebrow at you, but you ignored him. You heard the door open and his footsteps disappear down the hall. 

You leaned against the countertop, sipping the water. Moments later the door opened and you heard the sound of Adam shuffling with your bags. You peered around the corner to see him headed straight for the unused bedroom. You stifled a laugh when you realized he was holding the handle of your toothbrush between his teeth. 

He came into the kitchen, looking over his shoulder as if he wasn’t sure you’d be here still, and when he saw you his eyes scanned you hungrily. 

You sipped your water, looking up at him, eyebrows raised, as he approached. He kept his eyes trained on you as he took the water from your hands and drank it, his eyes never leaving yours. 

You smirked a little, still taken aback by his audacity over the past two days. He grasped you at the hips and lifted you onto the counter, stepping between your knees.

While one hand caressed your cheek, the other grasped your knee and slowly moved up your thigh, leaving behind a trail of warmth and goosebumps. You inched forward slightly so your bodies were pressed against each other and rested your forearms on on his shoulders. He welcomed your closeness by moving his hand all the way up your leg to grasp your hip and pull it tightly to his body, as if to say _stay_ , then it rested against the small of your back. 

You decided to break the silent reverie before it turned to lust again.

“Can I ask a question?”

He nodded, keeping his eyes trained on you. 

“What’s going on right now? Like, in your head? Why are you being...like this with...me?” You stumbled, trying to find the most neutral wording. 

His head lolled to one side as he pursed his lips, “I like you. You like me, too. How else should I be?” 

“I just—I don’t really understand what’s going to happen. I _do_ like you. But, your life is complicated. Besides, you could have any girl you want. I mean...it’d probably be better PR for you to be with someone high profile,” as you spoke Adam lowered his head to your shoulder and nuzzled against your neck, placing sporadic kisses across your skin. 

His voice was muffled, “I don’t care about that stuff. I never have. Honestly, the fame is a little uncomfortable. I enjoy your passion and your enthusiasm. You’re pretty bossy for someone so small and defenseless and you stand up for yourself. I’m an actor because I love performing, not because I’m chasing fame or fortune. This life is very different than the one I expected. I don’t take it for granted, but it’s also not all I think about. Success, to me, is defined by my own satisfaction with my work and my life.” 

You stared blankly ahead as he spoke, your arms slid down his neck until just your hands were against his skin, your fingers playing with the ends of his long strands. 

“I’d be very happy to...keep spending time with you,” he said, reaffirming it with a lazy kiss. 

You sighed and leaned your cheek against his. 

Neither of you spoke for the next few moments, you were simply lost in your own thoughts as he peppered your neck with small, innocent kisses and you brushed through his hair with your fingers. 

Soon, you would hear a rumbling from Adam’s core. He laughed and straightened out his posture as you smiled. He took your shoulders and shook them playfully, “Get me _fooooood_ ,” he whined through his laughing, “ _Please,_ I’m helpless!”

You pushed him away and hopped down from the counter, shaking your head but not able to shake the smile from your face and went to get dressed. 

Adam followed after you like a lost puppy, continuing to make you laugh with his fake whines of how starved he was. 

You opened your suitcase and grabbed today’s work outfit to hang up in the bathroom. You turned the hot water on and allowed the steam to release the wrinkles. You pulled out a pair of leggings and a tank top and retreated to the bathroom for a quick shower so you could be on your way to get breakfast. You stopped half-way through the threshold of the shower stall, unable to recall if you closed the bathroom door all the way. 

Your question was answered pretty abruptly as two very large hands ran up your sides, starting at your hips and reaching your ribs slowly. A low growl escaped his throat.

He spun you around and took a step into you, forcing you to walk backward until the cold shower wall met your legs. He pressed himself against you, his skin warm.

You stammered, tried to take to side-step him. He lifted your chin so your eyes were forced to meet his gaze. His eyes were burning yours with a mixture of sincerity and desire. Any and all protests you were about to make had been silenced while he held your gaze. 

Something in the back of your mind noted those hazel eyes would probably get him—or you—in a lot of trouble. He leaned down and kissed you, softly at first. At some point his motion against your lips had you mesmerized and moving in unison with his. The warm water coming from the rainfall shower head bounced off of his skin trickled down your own. You curiously ran your fingers up his body, starting at his hips and stopping at his chest. His hands on your hips moved you so that the water could hit you directly. 

Your muscles relaxed under the warmth. Adam reached behind you and grabbed a bottle from the shelf and poured it into his hand. You stiffened as he brought his hands around to your front and started massaging at your shoulders. 

His eyes flickered to you while his hands worked down your arms, “Just let me. Please.” 

You tilted your head back so the water hit your face and ran down your scalp. Your mouth parted slightly as the water fell against your skin and Adam massaged soap against your breasts. His hands traveled down your stomach and you were sure they’d stop there. 

But it was Adam, and he had no boundaries, so they didn’t. One steadied you at the hip while the other traveled down between your legs. Your head snapped forward at the invasion and you took a step back into another wall. Adam’s eyes were lowered, his lips parted as he followed your movement, his hands never left you. His hair stuck to his forehead and neck as he continued working his hand against your sex. There were a lot of things to focus on. His hands. His dick, fully erect against your hip. The hot water. The cold wall. You groaned as his motions caused the swirling warmth in your groin to strengthen and the dull hangover throbbed inside your head. 

Adam put a foot between yours and used his knee to push yours aside, giving him compete access to you. Your foot found a small lip of a shelf to stabilize against and you wrapped your arms around his shoulders, using the leverage to pull yourself up. 

Adam realized you’re intentions and grappled with your ass, squeezing hard as he pulled you up to eye level. You wrapped your legs around his waist and his hand reached out behind your head to rest against the shower wall. His eyes were fiercely wild behind his wet hair as he lowered you down onto him, sliding past your folds with ease. You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding as he held your gaze. 

You smirked, “I thought you were _hungry_.” He punctuated the last word with a deep thrust. 

“Starving.” Was the only reply as he pressed you aggressively against the wall.


	9. Lash Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by that one interview that made headlines.  
> Angry boy can’t control his anger.

You hardly had time to focus on what was going on between you and Adam, having barely made it to the studio on time that day. You’d been ushering him around town for hours already, and the lack of restful sleep had not been tempered by coffee He was in his last interview for two hours and you were waiting outside of the room with security and the driver. They didn’t speak to you, they never had. It made you miss Henry. 

You shifted in your seat, noticing the soreness in your in your thighs. _A sex wound,_ you smiled to yourself. You unlocked your phone, ready to respond to emails when a message popped up from Ella. 

_How’s it going? How’s London?_

_Hey. It’s great so far. He’s been doing really well._

_that’s great!!! I’ve seen a bit of press which is great for his image! are you dying to be back home yet? Lol_

You frowned. The truth was you were dreading returning home. You were desperate for something to make sense in the next two weeks you’d spend assisting Adam. After that, he’d go back into Ella’s care and you’d go back to desk work and await a new assignment. 

_Maybe a little,_ You lied. You weren’t prepared to get into the details of how Adam had seduced you while you were both drunk or how this morning he plowed you into the wall of a hotel shower. You decided to leave the details out of it for now. 

Your concentration was broken as the door to the interview room swung open. You stood up immediately. A flurry of movement happened in front of you as a tense, tangibly angry Adam stormed passed you. The security followed him closely and you looked up, confused as the interview crew trickled out of the room with wide eyes. 

“What’s going on? You’re not supposed to be—“ you looked back and forth between them. 

“He’s _crazy!_!” The interviewer exclaimed, “he freaked out over a clip!” 

You stepped toward them, “ _You showed him what clip?_ ” your voice was saturated with anger. 

“We—we wanted to talk about the song—“ her eyes widened. 

“DID YOU NOT READ THE MEMO I SENT YESTERDAY?” You realized you were shouting as one of the crew stepped between you and the interviewer. You held up your hands, trying to make yourself calm. 

“I...I didn’t. I’m sorry.” Her chest heaved. 

“Maybe you can do that next time,” you sneered through your teeth, “his only request is to not be put on the spot like that. It gives him panic attacks.” You turned on your heel and stormed down the hall. 

Outside, rain fell lightly on your head. The limo was idling by the curb, waiting for you. As you stepped toward it, a guard from the front seat stepped out and opened the back door for you. You nodded at him as you ducked into the backseat. Adam was seated across from you, his legs crossed and arms folded tightly against his chest. He didn’t acknowledge you as he stared out the window, his eyes glistening and his mouth terse. 

You could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. He was teaming. You knotted your hands together and prayed he wouldn’t scream in the car. It was the longest car ride you’d ever taken back to the hotel. Adam didn’t wait for security once the car stopped. His door flew open and he jumped out of the car. You hurried after him quietly, trying not to cause a scene. He had already stepped into the elevator but security was quick enough to hold the door. The four of you entered, and no one spoke. 

Adam angrily slid his keycard through the reader and pushed the door open so hard that it banged against the wall. You winced as you stepped in behind him, gave a small wave to the security to dismiss them, and allowed the door to close behind you. _No damage there, thankfully._

You heard something slam against a wall and walked towards the commotion. Adam was pacing the living room, clutching his fist, curse words spewing from his mouth. 

You glanced at the wall which was now dented. _So much for no damage,_ you sighed.

Adam must’ve sensed your frustration, and it tripled his, “Just leave,” he said through gritted teeth. 

“I will.” Your voice was shaky as you tried to step around him, to the second room. 

He raised his hand and pointed a finger at you, his face looked anguished as tears welled up in his eyes, “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TELL THEM NOT TO DO THAT.” 

“I _did._ ” You stepped closer to him, your jaw tensed as you stared at him. 

He studied your face, his lip trembling as he processed. 

You stepped around him again, this time he let you pass. You walked straight into the bedroom and gathered your things quickly. You glanced at the shower, briefly recalling how different this morning was. You huffed and walked out of the room. Adam looked up, his face had been in his hands. His eyes darted to the suitcase handles in your hands and he stood up quickly. 

“You don’t need to—“ His voice had softened, he reached out to take the bag from your hand. 

You flinched and pulled your hand away. The small action didn’t go unnoticed. Adam’s mouth contorted with disbelief and he dropped his hand. 

“Please. Please, don’t.” His voice was pained now and it seemed he didn’t know what to do with his hands. 

Your feet were planted firmly and your eyes cast down. Adam stepped forward, you could sense the change in his emotional state. His hands hesitantly ran up your arms to your shoulders. His chest still heaved with short breaths as he pulled you to his body. He leaned down and his arms reached for your hands. He pulled the bags from them and let them fall to the ground. You exhaled a shaky breath as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders and leaned into your ear. 

“You really told them?” 

You pushed him forward, his grip on you was loose enough that it was easily broken. His legs bent at the sofa and he fell back onto it. You gave him no chance to process as you climbed onto his lap and pinned him at the shoulders, “I _told_ them, Adam. And then I got really angry and scared the host.” 

You saw a smirk play at the corner of his mouth. 

“You... _scared_ her?” He pushed up to a seated position, with you still straddling his lap, “I would’ve liked to have seen that.” His voice was low, his eyes danced with a look you recognized. 

You rolled your eyes, feeling exhausted from this emotional rollercoaster ride, and began to stand up. 

Large hands grabbed your ass and pulled you back to his lap. You exhaled sharply and trained your gaze on him, hoping he understand to drop it. 

His mouth grew into a mischievous smile and you knew he _did_ understand, but probably didn’t care. He scooted until his back could rest against the back of the sofa, his grip on your hips never wavering. 

“Are you okay now?” You raised an eyebrow at him. 

He nodded, exhaling sharply. 

“How’s your hand?” 

He glanced down, “It’s fine. I’m sorry for lashing out. That’s—it just gets really overwhelming and I—I can’t control it.” His eyes met yours with sincerity. 

You lifted his hand from your waist and examined it. The skin was swollen and red, but seemed fine. You brought it too your mouth and placed a kiss on his palm, “You have to try. Or bottle it up and save it for your angsty rolls,” you smirked. 

He chuckled darkly, “Believe me, dear. I’m trying,” his hand lingered against your face as he studied you. 

You glanced back at your belongings on the floor, a question forming on your lips, “Do you want me to stay here, Adam?” 

He followed your gaze and bit his lip, “I—yeah. I mean, only if you do. But...yeah, I would like that.” 

You tried again to stand and this time he released you. You gathered the items together. Adam’s chest pressed against your back as his arms reached around you to take the bags. Your mind flashed back to the first day you met him. You turned around. 

“Where would can I put them for you?” He asked. You knew from his tone and the repentant look on his face that if you had said you wanted them in your room, he would’ve taken them there. You didn’t, though. 

“Where they were,” you nodded towards the second bedroom. 

You could tell he was trying to hide a smile on his face as he nodded and went to put your things down. 

His voice carried from the room, “Are you sure you don’t want them in my room?” He walked into view. 

“No,” you shook your head, “the styling crew and security might see them and that’ll raise questions. I’ll put them in the closet.” 

“So what?” He scoffed. 

You pursed your lips and shook your head, “We’ve slept together twice, let’s not broadcast it to the world. I could get fired.” You turned on your heel toward the kitchen. 

“You can’t get fired unless I fire you,” he argued, following you, “and I won’t do that. Besides, there’s a perfectly good closet in my room.” 

You sighed, pulling a wine glass out of the dishwasher and pouring yourself a glass, “Just drop it, Adam. I don’t actually work for you, I’m just filling in. Once this trip is over, I get reassigned.” The words fell from your mouth sadly. 

He took the wine glass from your hand as you raised it to your mouth and sipped, “So I’ll request for you instead, easy.” 

“Not without raising questions,” you said as you glared at him and took the glass back, “and my _friend_ is assigned to you. I couldn’t do that to her.” 

“Ella? Ella sucks. I mean come on, she kind of sucks. It wouldn’t raise questions—why would anyone question a stupid celebrities wishes? Isn’t that why they assign you to people anyway?” 

You shook your head, refusing to continue arguing with him, “I’m tired, Adam. Am I sleeping in there,” you motioned for the second bedroom, “or in there?” You nodded at his. 

He chewed the inside of his cheek while his eyes regarded you in an intense way. He took the wine glass from your hand and dumped the remnants in the sink before leaning down at the waist and heaving you over his shoulder. You screamed as you were turned upside down and kicked out as he carried you into his bedroom and tossed you onto his bed. Your mind flashed to the memory of last night. 

“You’ll sleep here. Understand?” 

You nodded, excitement growing in the pit of your stomach as he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor.


	10. Tear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your eyes fluttered open, the room was lightened by blue and purple beams of sunrise creeping through the bedroom. You sat up, and stretched your arms above your head. Today was going to be a photo shoot and video shoot day rolled into one. A campaign for a high profile magazine. You sighed, looked to your left—but Adam wasn’t there. You crawled out of bed and made your way towards the bathroom. Your reflection revealed a naked frame with messy hair, and purple bruises scattered across your breasts and collarbones forming their own constellation. 

You smiled and shook your head. Pulling a robe on and tying it around your waist, you exited the bathroom and rounded the corner into living space. There was no sign of Adam anywhere. You panicked, ran to your bag and dug around for your phone. No texts or missed calls. No communication from security or the driver. 

You lifted the phone to your ear and listened to the ringing, after a few seconds, you heard his voice. 

“Good morning.” 

“ _Are you trying to give me a fucking heart attack?_ ”

“Relax, give me four seconds and you’ll feel better.” His voice was calm, he seemed amused by your stress. 

The beep of the the card reader alerted you that he was outside. You turned your head towards the entry way and there was his face, peeking out of a hoodie that hadn’t been zipped up. His eyebrows raised and a dazzling smile plastered to his face. 

He lowered the phone from his ear and raised his other hand to present a drink carrier with two drinks and a bag balanced between them. 

“I know you’re mad, so I brought coffee. Here.” 

“What were you thinking?! Why didn’t you wake me—“ 

“—yeah, you were too fucking cute, you were sleeping and I couldn’t wake you up. I couldn’t. And I’m not sorry.” He shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head. His skin glistening with sweat. 

“I called the security and went to the gym and then got coffee. Everything was _fine_.” 

You were fuming as he approached you, his iced latte/peace offering extended toward you. 

You took it and glared, “If something happened do you have any idea how bad that would’ve been for me?” 

“Because of your job or because of your feelings for me?”

You pursed your lips around the straw, “That’s not far. I’m talking about the fact that you’re not supposed to move without my knowledge. And if something were to happen to you _of course_ I would be upset, but it wouldn’t end there.” 

He raised his eyebrow, and acknowledged you with a nod, “I’ll try not to do it again.” 

You rolled your eyes as he shrugged out of the hoodie and made his way to the shower. 

*

The photo shoot took up most of the day. Adam seemed resilient, energy never waning. _He’s meant for this,_ you mused. You, on the other hand, were exhausted. Maybe it was residual jet lag, although you hadn’t typically struggled with that. Maybe it was the sex on top of constant sexual tension that he seemed to radiate on top of an already stressful job. Maybe it was the uncertainty weighing on your mind about what would happen to you and Adam when you got back to LA. You found yourself daydreaming about him fucking you and wondered if anyone else would be able to compare to what you’d experienced the last few days. 

When it wrapped, he found you immediately, handing you a stack of papers bound by a binder clip, “Can you hold onto this for me?”

“Can we go?” He asked. 

You nodded, motioning for him to exit first. He nodded at the people he passed in the hallway. He donned a pair of sunglasses and a hat as you exited the building and ducked into the car together. 

He suddenly leaned forward and brushed your knee with his fingertips. Your eyes darted between him and the security guard in the backseat with the both of you, whose face was turned to the window. You shook your head once as his fingers crept slowly up your inner leg. You mouthed _STOP_ at him and shook your head slightly. His hair was framing his face and his eyes were touched by his unapologetic grin. 

_What has come over him?!_

You crossed your legs quickly, knocking his hand out of the way. He didn’t move, resting his elbows on his knees and smiling at you still. You glared at him as the security guard glanced at both of you. 

“We’re here.” He said, in a gruff voice as he stepped out of the car and held the door open for you both. 

You climbed out first, noticing the distinct feeling of Adam’s hand on your ass as he followed you. You rolled your eyes and nodded in thanks to the security. 

Adam dismissed them at the door and followed you to your usual seat of choice. 

“Can I have the script?” He asked. 

“Oh, sure.” You dug through your bag and produced it, sliding it across the counter to him. 

“I’m going to read this tonight, will you get me a glass of wine?” He said, flipping through the pages without looking at you. 

You nodded. 

When you returned to him and set down the glass, he didn’t look up. 

“Adam, who gave you the script?” You asked. 

He was quiet for a moment, when he looked up at you his eyes were squinting slightly, his brows knit together, “A courier was sent by an indie film producer. It’s a small part, but I’m interested,” he said before returning to the script. 

You stood in front of him for a moment and then decided on giving him some privacy. You gathered your laptop and stood between the two bedrooms, unsure of which to go into. You figured it was going to take a while for him to read it and he might want to retire to his room. Not wanting to be in the way, you opened the door to the second bedroom. You opened your laptop and started up _Netflix_. You idly selected a real crime show to play in the backroom while you scrolled through your phone. At some point, you drifted off to sleep. 

_You were running through a field of yellowed grass. It poked at your ankles and knees as you went. Your dress was plain and dirty, unlike anything you’d owned before. Adam was twenty paces in front of you, all you could really see was his hair bouncing and the sun reflecting beautifully off of him. The faster you ran, the more the grass blades bit at your legs, the harder your bare feet sank into mud and kicked it up onto your dress and arms. You were closer to him now. You could see Adam clearly now. He was in a suit that was perfectly pressed and clean. He seemed delighted as he stopped running and extended his hand to you. When you reached him, you saw before him a sea of people around a red carpet. Your smock was stained. Your feet, caked in mud. Tiny scraps and cuts on your legs were reddened and inflamed._

_“Join me,” he said._

You were awakened by Adam’s hands slipping behind your knees and shoulders. He lifted you to his chest and began to carry you away from the bed. You were still half asleep, and disoriented. 

“Wait, what are you doing?” You said, your voice breaking. 

“I’m taking you to bed, dummy.” He said as he shuffled you through to his bedroom. 

“What time is it?” You mumbled as he sat you down on the foot of the bed. 

“I don’t know, sometime after midnight.” His voice was disinterested. 

You looked around through squinted eyes and crawled up the bed, pulling the blankets back and settling in them. 

“No, up.” He protested, flinging the blankets back. 

“ _No, I’m tired._ ” you moaned, trying to take the blankets. 

He grunted and tossed them to the foot of the bed, pulling you up until you were seated, “You’re not sleeping in that pencil skirt. You’ll thank me later,” he said. 

You slouched your shoulders in defiance as he untucked your blouse and pulled it over your head. He unhooked your bra quickly and let it fall from your chest, yanking it from your arms and tossing it out of sight. He pushed you onto your back and pulled your skirt down passed your hips. You helped him by kicking it off and he slowly pulled down your tights—you imagined he was being careful not to tear them. 

You rolled onto your side as he draped the blankets over your body. A moment later he was beside you in bed, he scooted in until his chest was pressed against your back and his arm snaked around your waist, pulling you tight against him. His fingers traces shapes across your breast, causing goosebumps to form on your skin. You could feel his slow and steady heartbeat against your back. The warmth against your skin was soothing, like your own personal space heater. He placed a lazy kiss on your shoulder and you were lulled back to sleep, right there in his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nice and wholesome~~ I wrote a different chapter today but it didn’t seem like the right time to post it, so I’m pushing it back.


	11. Abuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning; choking (old fashioned kind—not force-choking, sorry Kylo Ren fans)

_One week left_. The thought played on repeat in your mind. You found yourself saddened by it, and that annoyed you. Who were you to expect a future with him? It’s not like anything was going to happen once you were back home. And why did you care so much—why couldn’t you just _enjoy_ what was left of this trip? 

The dream you had a few nights ago also replayed in your head. You felt sick every time you saw Adam’s face when you didn’t take his hand. The hurt that flashed across it. 

As tears welled up from your all-consuming thoughts, you heard Adam rustling in the bathroom. You wiped your eyes quickly, along with any evidence of sadness. You wouldn’t let him see. 

He wandered out of the bathroom, brushing his teeth in a furious way that made you laugh. He looked you up and down, his brows knit together and stopped brushing for a second to ask through a mouth full of minty foam, “What?” 

You walked toward him, his eyes flickering across your figure, and pulled the toothbrush from his mouth, “Why _the hell_ are abusing your mouth like that?” 

He scoffed and yanked his arm back, returning to the aggressive attack on his teeth. You shook your head, a smile creeping across your face, and walked to his closet to get his suit. 

“I’ll abuse _your_ mouth,” he called after you. 

“Whatever you say, Adam Driver.”

You heard his footsteps recede into the bathroom and hummed to yourself as you dusted stray pieces of lint off of his suit. You heard his footfalls against the carpet as he entered the closet and felt the warmth coming off of his skin as he stood behind you. His fingers ran down your arms, from shoulders to wrists. He lowered his head until his breath was on your neck. 

“Are you going to pick out my underwear, too?” He asked, your name rolling off of his tongue sarcastically. 

You turned around, your eyebrows raised innocently, “Oh, do you need me to do that? Shall I get your socks and pacifier, as well, sir?”

A growl escaped his throat as he pushed you backward against the wall. You smiled as your back slammed against the surface, hanging the suit up sloppily on a rack in arms’ reach. Half of it might’ve fallen onto the floor. You didn’t care. “I’ll give you a reason to call me _sir_.” His fingers wrapped around your wrists and yanked your arms above your head. You flashed him a daring look, “Is that all you’ve got?” you mocked. The distraction was welcome, as was the aggression—surprisingly. It wasn’t exactly something you’d experienced before, but the dampness developing between your legs had you believe it’s something you were going to like. 

He didn’t smile, but his eyes twinkled with a devilish look. He shuffled until one hand held both of your wrists and his other traveled down your arm, and across your shoulder. His fingers wrapped around your throat gingerly and he searched your eyes for a few seconds. Whatever he was looking for, he found and smiled. His mouth twitched as he squeezed with his thumb and fingers, apply pressure expertly to the sides of your throat and stopping the blood flow, but putting minimal pressure on your windpipe. 

The hand holding your wrists left to cup the damp mound between your legs. Your arms fell helplessly to your sides. His fingers moved against the fabric separating them from you. The friction was incredible. You tried to draw in a breath, and he squeezed harder. You were already feeling dizzy when his lips found yours and hungrily devoured you. He parted them, tongue trashing against your own and ravishing your mouth. He drew in your bottom lip and sucked. He released it only to grab it between his teeth and bite the soft, wet skin. Your mouth was helpless, lips beginning to tingle from the lack of blood flow. When your eyes met his again, he released his hold on you. You closed your eyes and sucked in a breath. 

He gave you little time to recover as his hands spun you around, one covered the side of your face and pressed it against the wall and the other pulled your hip back, grinding your hip against his groin. He was hard already. He moved away to swat your ass. You drew in a sharp breath which seemed to encourage him. He alternated between sides until your skin get raw and you were moaning. 

He leaned in and whispered your name in your ear, “Should I continue?”

You nodded under his hand. 

“I think you’ll have to fix this,” he pressed his groin against you, “Maybe I’ll—how did you put it? Oh yeah— _abuse your mouth_.” 

You reached with one hand behind you to stroke him. He let go of your face and allowed you to turn to face him. As you began to kneel before him, your heart racing, he placed a hand on your shoulder and pushed you faster to your knees. You hurriedly unfastened his belt and undid his slacks, curling your fingers under his waistband and pulling down until his dick sprung free. 

You looked up at him hungrily through your lashes and he ran his fingers from your ears to the crown of your head as he pulled the strands away from your face. You eagerly took him in your mouth, trying to adjust to his size. His face went slack as his eyelids fluttered, closed, and his head fell back on his shoulders. His hair fell away from his cheeks. You looked up at his face as your head bobbed, saliva running down your chin. He was stripped of his intensity for this moment, his chest rose and fell with an unfamiliar unsteadiness. He had always been in control of his body before, but now his cheek twitched every time your tongue swirled around his head or your fingers grasped tighter. He looked vulnerable, and beautiful. You hummed in ecstasy as you regarded how you could control this beautiful, large man so easily. 

His head snapped forward, his lips parted and eyes dark and wild. He seemed to take a breath to focus on you, as if he couldn’t find you right away, his lip trembled. 

“So much for abuse,” he muttered as he pulled away from you abruptly and dove forward, tackling you to the ground. The air was knocked out of your lungs as your back met the ground and Adam’s hands pinned your shoulders back, “ _where did you learn to suck a dick like that, you filthy girl?_ ”

He rushed to push your dress above your waist and let out a frustrated growl when he saw the waistband of your tights.

“Stupid fucking tights,” he muttered, “I hate them.” 

His finger dug into the waistband at your navel and _ripped_ straight through the thin fabric. You groaned and wriggled under him as he pushed you’d underwear aside and dipped a finger into your center. His face snapped up to meet yours and a smile played at his lips. 

“ _So wet_ ,” he whispered, pulling his hand away from you and lining his hips up with yours. Your hips bucked to meet his quicker and he thrusted against you sharply, sucking a breath in through his teeth. 

Your name slid out of his mouth as he pressed you further into the carpeted floor. His thrusts were hard, eager. He had developed a rhythm and your name through his teeth was a punctuation to the end of an aggressive fucking sentence. 

Your hands found his face and pulled it to yours. His lips crashed against yours angrily. One hand reached from between the two of you and wrapped around your throat. He applied the same pressure as before, causing your eyelids to droop and your lips to stop moving. Groaning against the hundreds of delicious sensations assaulted your body, you were becoming more and more distinctly aware of the muscles tightening between your hips. Your mouth contorted as the climax wracked through your body aggressively. Your muscles tightened and Adam released his hold on your neck as you moaned. He moved faster as your walls clenched around him until his muscles tensed and his movements slowed. 

As you both came down, he was propped up on his elbows, hovering over you. Your breath mingled with Adam’s, and your bodies we’re slick against each other’s skin from collective sweat. 

It could’ve been two minutes or twenty that you both were laying there, your shaky limbs beginning to rest. Eventually Adam gathered himself and rose to his feet. He stumbled out of the closet and disappeared into the bedroom. You thought you heard the water turning on in the bathroom, but were too tired to think. You opened your eyes, unaware they had been closed, and found Adam standing above you, his hair obscuring his eyes. You watched him, your limbs too exhausted to move. His eyes measured you and he exhaled through his nose, leaning forward and hooking his arms under your knees and shoulders. You groaned softly as you were lifted off of the floor, your new-found sanctuary. 

He ignored you, carrying you through the doorway to the bathroom. Steam was already spilling out of the shower stall and onto the tiles. He carried you under the hot water and allowed it to awaken your muscles. You straightened your legs as he set you down, and your thighs felt weak. As the water trickled down your face, Adam brushed the strands of hair back. 

His eyes had softened, the tension that had been there moments ago, gone. He leaned down at his shoulders, his hands cupping your face, and pressed his lips to your forehead. 

Your arms wrapped around his waist as he pushed your hair to one side. His lips found the soft, wet skin of your neck and placed gentle kisses there. You hummed as he kissed behind your ear. You wondered if this is what love feels like. If it is.... _fuck_.

He turned off the water and draped a towel over your shoulders. You held it tight against your body as he used a smaller one to dry your legs. He rubbed his hands over the towel against your back and arms, leaving behind warmth. He tied a towel around his waist and gathered all of your hair to ring it out. The droplets of water hit the floor, neither of you looked. He stood in front of you, his eyes scanned you. 

With a comfortable silence cloaking you both, there was no need to speak. He extended his palm. You took it and he led you out of the bathroom. He took the towel from around your shoulders and replaced it with the blanket. He sat down on the bed and pulled you to him. You rested your head in the crook of his neck and pulled the blanket tighter against your body. Adam hummed softly in your ear for a few moments, laying back against the pillows with you nestled into his side, until sleep found both of you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some rough sex followed by aftercare. A lot of inspiration from Adam Sackler. 
> 
> “I’m going to tie you to my bed and keep you there for three days, that’s just the kind of mood I’m in.”


	12. Curtain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You were roused by Adam’s fingers brushing against your skin. The rough, calloused fingertips were so, so gentle against your collarbone. They traveled across, to the center of your chest, and down between the valley of your breasts. When you opened your eyes, he was staring intently at you, his hair pushed back from his forehead. 

“Hey.” He said quietly. 

“Hey,” you sighed, stretching your limbs. 

“How’re you feeling?” 

“Great,” you smiled, “you?” 

“Hungry.”

“You’re always hungry.” 

“Mm.” He nodded. 

You lifted his arm and moved it away, scooting to the corner of the bed to stand. The item of clothing closet to you was his t-shirt. You pulled it over your head, taking a moment to breathe in the fabric which carried his scent. You turned back to him and he looked...mesmerized. 

You felt a smirk spread across your face as you sauntered to the bathroom. When you returned Adam was dressed. A black and white striped shirt under a peacoat, black jeans and dress shoes. He had a way of taking your breath away, it didn’t seem to matter if he was shirtless or like this. 

He pushed his hair out of his face and tossed something at you. You cause it in your hands and looked down. Jeans. Your jeans.

“Put those on, shoes are here.” He said, walking past you and pointing to a pair of dark-blue strappy heels. 

Your eyes followed him out of the room as you let the jeans unfold. 

“I don’t have any underwear in here,” you called after him. 

“I _know_.” He called back from the other room. 

*

You sat across from him in the backseat of the car with your legs crossed. You’d tucked in the front of Adam’s shirt which nearly swallowed your figure. His eyes were trained on you the entire ride. He had called the driver himself and never did tell you where you were going. 

You had pestered, but he refused, simply resigning to his brooding stare. 

When the driver announced you had arrived and you exited the car. You stepped out of the car and into sunlight—the first instance since you arrived in London. Adam stepped out behind you with sunglasses and a beanie pulled down over his ears, masking his hair. A security guard followed behind you as Adam led you around a corner. The street opened up into a market. The sunlight bounced off of the tops of pop-up tents shading the merchants. Spilling from their tents were thousands and thousands of flowers. Your eyes searched, and it seemed the flowers stretched as far as you could see. They backed up against colorful shops with various selections as far as you could tell, bustling with customers. 

“Adam.” You said quietly. 

“It’s a flower market. Do you like it?” 

You nodded, the soft scent of mixed florals filled your nose. 

You marveled at the sight before you, Adam was drifting through the crowd anonymously, followed only by the guard. He towered over most by a few inches, at least. You smiled, _at least I’ll never lose sight of him_. 

He looked over his shoulder and found you a few paces behind him. He nodded forward, motioning for you to _catch the fuck up_. 

You squeezed through the crowd until you were at his side. You walked beside him for a few paces, and he draped his arm around your shoulder. You recoiled instantly, ducking down and praying no one saw. 

“ _Don’t._ ” you said quietly, through your teeth, “someone might recognize you.” 

He scoffed, but obliged. 

Now, all you could see amongst this beauty was the people who were walking hand-in-hand. The young couples stealing away to make out behind a parked van. The little old man laying his coat on a bench for his wife to sit on, so she would not ruin her Sunday best. 

You mourned for the date Adam wanted to take you on. That’s what this was. You didn’t imagine this market was a dream of his to walk through. There’s no way you’d ever be able to go on a date with him. 

He grasped your elbow as he turned into a shop, and if he hadn’t you probably would’ve continued forward—lost in thought. The shop was a small deli. The inside smelled like fresh bread and cheese. You stood behind Adam as he picked various foods. The two of you sat down at a bar top while the security guard stood near the door. The deli worker delivered a charcuterie board of Adam’s choices. 

“Mmm,” he hummed, regarding the food like it was his first and last meal. He began picking at different pieces. 

“Eat,” he said through a mouthful. 

You chuckled at his impatience and nodded along. 

*

You waited to left of a black curtain. On the other side of it, Adam sat at a panel with his fellow cast members, answering questions. There was often the harmonious sound of the crowd laughing in unison.

Once or twice you heard Adam’s own unique, beautiful laughter amplified by his microphone. The sound, more like a ringing of bells in your ears, brought a smile to your face. 

You stood there silently, peering out of the curtain. You caught a few glimpses of him interacting with the cast or some very lucky audience members. He seemed so comfortable. He seemed at ease. But still, when the attention was off of him he would shuffle uneasily, a look may cross his face at the same time that made you want to run out and pull him off the stage. A look that made him seem lost. 

Getting him out of the panel took longer than normal. So many people wanted to talk to him. But it was getting late, and he must be tired. He didn’t waiver in his cheerfulness when he spoke to a new person. Seeing that it could go on forever and that he would never stop them from coming up to him, you stepped in between him and the next person. 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Driver, we have to leave.” You said quietly.

He smiled at the person and nodded followed you. 

The two of you walked silently until you were away from the crowd with only security and your driver around you. 

“Thanks for that. Feel free to interject sooner next time,” he said, nudging your arm playfully. You looked up at him and he winked. 

The car was just outside the backdoor, you both hopped in and took your usual seats. This time, the second security didn’t join you. You looked around and leaned your head into view of the partition to ask the driver. 

“Excuse me, where is the other bodyguard?” 

“Second car, ma’am. Lot of high profile people leaving this lot today.” Came the response. 

“Excellent,” Adam said. 

You looked at him, confused as clicked the button to roll up the partition. His eyes danced in a way that made your stomach do a summersault. 

You sat back against your seat with your arms folded tightly across your chest. The smell of Adam’s cologne, body wash, deodorant—whatever it was that cloaked this garment still lingered. Adam grasped both of your knees, the warmth coming from his palms was enough to start a fire in your belly. You extended your knee so that a heel made contact with his chest, and pressed him back into his seat. You raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to retaliate.

He smirked, lifted your foot a few inches and dug his teeth into your ankle. 

You covered your mouth to stifle a squeal and sat up to push him away. His response was fast, he dropped your foot, allowing it to fall on the seat beside him and grabbed you at the waist, pulling you forward until you were hovering over his lap. Your legs folded under you in response and he lowered you so that you were face to face, straddling him. 

You sighed, knowing from the grip he held on your ass that struggling was futile. He smirked and gripped tighter, echoing your thoughts. 

You leaned in, your hair falling like a curtain on either side of your face, and brushed your lips against his. Your hands traveled up his chest to the sides of his neck. He tilted his head back, parting his lips and pulled you forward by the hips. Your lips met his fully. He bit your bottom lip as he pushed your hips back and then rolled them forward again. You became aware of his intention immediately as the seam of your jeans rubbed against you _there_. You groaned softly against his lips, which only encouraged him to increase the speed of his movements. Now, you realized, he was hard, his pants taut against his groin. His arousal only led to increased friction as he rocked you back and forth. In his concentration, he’d released his hold on your lip. You allowed your head to fall back on your shoulders, your hands tangled in his hair. You could feel his eyes on you as he moved you against him, his pace quickening with each labored intake of breath you made. All at once, you felt your core muscles tighten and your fists clasped handfuls of his long hair. Your mouth was slack as an orgasm tore through your body. Adam reached up with one hand to cover your mouth. It was only then that you realized you’d started grinding against him lap freely. You tried as hard as you could not not let sound escape your mouth as you came down and wondered what sounds you’d made when you were caught up in the bliss of the moment. 

Adam smirked at you and pulled you off of his lap suddenly. You didn’t realize the car had stopped, your mind still fuzzy from lack of blood in your head—most seemed to have been redirected to your groin. 

A second later the door opened beside you and you stepped out onto wobbly legs, trying to mask your labored breath. Adam draped his coat over his arm and held it in front of his body casually as you were escorted into the hotel. You did your best to stifle a laugh, thinking the security and driver must’ve heard you. You’d probably never find out.


	13. Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You reached for your alarm, silencing it quickly and looked behind you to see if it had woken Adam. He was snoring peacefully, his arm reaching out from his body to be around yours. He always slept like that, holding you to him. 

You got up quietly and dressed in the other room to go downstairs to grab coffee. 

When you rounded the corner, you took a moment to peek back into Adam’s room. He was just as you’d left him, sleeping peacefully. 

You felt a soft smile spread across your face and tiptoed to the door, closing it quietly behind you. 

Light rain fell outside. The doorman gave you an umbrella on your way out which gave you some protection from the elements. Nothing, however, was going to protect you from the thoughts that raced through your mind. You were flying out today. The end of your tour as Adam’s assistant. In just under 20 hours, he would no longer have any reason to maintain contact with you. He would go onto his next job, and so would you. And you might not see him again. 

When you returned, you made your way with coffees and pastries to the bedroom. Adam was sitting up now, reading on his phone. When he saw you, he cast his phone aside and reached out his arm, open palm extending toward you. You climbed into the bed happily, balancing the drinks and bag. Adam sat behind you, pulling your back against his chest and extending his long legs on either side of you. You sat with your legs crossed and balanced the drink carrier in your lap, passing him his coffee without saying a word. Your mind was at ease.

You found such peace in these moments you could exist silently. Most of your time was spent in communication with others, but Adam didn’t need that constantly. He brushed the hair back from your neck and placed a kiss there in gratitude before picking up a croissant. 

You both sat there, trading bites of pastry and drinking your coffee, allowing yourself to become adjusted to the morning. 

Rain fell against heavily outside now, and tapped angrily on the window’s of Adam’s suite. You were pacing back and forth in the kitchen, clutching your phone as you waited for something to happen. You’d already packed everything and had it waiting by the door. Your flight back to LA was in 3 hours, but the forecast did not show this storm letting up. 

You turned to continue pacing and smacked into Adam’s chest. He pulled your phone from your hands and set it down on the counter, your eyes followed him anxiously. 

“Adam—I’m worried the flight—“ he cut your protest short by cupping your face and forcing you to look at him. 

“You need to relax. So what if it’s cancelled? You don’t have someone waiting for you back home, do you?” He questioned playfully but his eyes were dark. 

You scoffed and pulled his hands off of you, staring him down, “Don’t be a dick.” 

You turned, picking up your phone and walking towards the sitting area. He grabbed your arm roughly and spun you around to him. 

“Are you not going to answer?” He asked, his voice low. 

“I—that’s not why I’m anxious, Adam. Your schedule will be completely thrown off if you don’t make it back to LA on time. We’ll have to try to keep this suite and book another flight which could be full—it’s a lot of work in a short amount of time.” 

He dropped your arm, “You do, don’t you?”

“ **NO. I DON’T HAVE A FUCKING BOYFRIEND, OKAY?** ” you yelled at him, scaring yourself a little bit, but Adam seemed completely unphased. You thought you saw a smirk flash across his face before you stormed away from him in frustration. 

Just as you got to the sofa, your phone buzzed. The airline. 

They told you the direct flight you were supposed to be on this afternoon was being delayed due to weather , the only next available flight had two first class seats being held for you and would depart tomorrow afternoon. You cursed under your breath and continued through the automated service to book the tickets, meanwhile emailing the agency to update them in real time. They pressed you to try to find a flight on any other airline or nearby airports that might still be operating to get Adam back home. 

You sent them a screenshot of the weather radar, blanketing the entire map in red. They thanked you, and said they’d be in contact tomorrow. 

You called the hotel and explained the situation. As you paced the room, Adam stood in the doorframe and watched you. 

You hung up with them and looked at the clock. You had been on the phone for an hour. You sighed, tossed your phone on the sofa, and rubbed your temple.

“So we’re staying?” He asked after a moment. 

“Yes. Sorry, we are staying. We leave tomorrow.” You sighed and leaned back into the couch, your phone screen lit up beside you letting you know changes to your work schedule and Adam’s were already being made. 

He walked over to you and crouched down in front of you, his hands resting on your knees, “There’s nothing you can do about the weather, you know?” 

“I know that. I just...don’t like when things don’t go the way they were planned,” you said reluctantly. 

He nodded. Moving his hands up your thighs and leaning forward, he rested his head on your lap. You looked down at him, unable to see his eyes as his hair spread out over his face. You reached out to run your fingers through his hair, but his lowered voice stopped your hand mid-air. 

“Why didn’t you want to tell me you didn’t have a boyfriend?”

You let your hand fall to your side. The movement caused him to lift his head, he rested his chin on your lap and looked up at you through his lashes, waiting for your response. 

“I don’t know why it matters, Adam. I know how this goes, when we get back to Los Angeles, you’re off to your next adventure and I’m stuck waiting to get assigned to someone new. Even if we do promise to see each other again or, whatever, that could be weeks or _months_. I’m don’t want to think about you in that way after we leave London. I know it has to end here, and that’s okay.” You felt tears prick your eyes as you delivered the lie. 

He lifted his head, his eyebrows knit together, “I already told you I’m going to request you permanently.” 

“I already told you that you’re not. I won’t take my friend’s permanent position,” as you spoke his eyes narrowed, “and besides...what if...you decide you don’t want _this_ anymore.” You couldn’t stop the poignant tone from touching your voice.

He studied you for a moment before clearing his throat and rising to his feet, “Fine. If that’s what you want, then fuck it.” 

He stormed off towards his room, slamming the door shut behind him. You sat still for a moment, stunned by the brief interaction and outburst. 

You finally found the ability to move your limbs, you were able to stand up and walk quietly to the second room. You crawled onto the bed, curled up into a ball and let the tears fall from your eyes and the soft sobs wracked through your chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :(


	14. Escape

The door to your apartment closed behind you. You dropped the bags at your feet, and walked through your silent hall to the bathroom and turned the shower on. Your body was working on autopilot as you showered, but your mind...your _mind_ was both blank and swimming with thoughts. 

Adam hadn’t spoken to you after the conversation in the sitting room the day before. Storms kept you up most of the night.  
Not even the TV was able to drown out the sound of thunder and rain. It also did a shit job of distracting you from your racing heart. 

You closed your eyes and let the the water from your shower hit your face. 

You waited for Adam in the sitting room, unable to find the words to say to him. When he exited his bedroom, he went straight to the door and walked out. His security was already there, of course. You stood up, your legs felt shaky as you left the sanctuary of this hotel suite. You didn’t bother looking back as you closed the door, fearing another look might just make you break down. 

He didn’t say anything to you on the plane. His face was cast down, his prominent nose was the only part of his face not obscured by his curtain of hair. You offered to order him refreshments and he ignored you. You swallowed the lump in your throat and wished for the airplane seat to open up and swallow you whole. 

Your hand reached for the shower knob and shut off the water. You wrapped a towel around your body—your mind immediately resurfacing the time he’d wrapped one around your shoulders and dried you off. You wiped condensation from the mirror and looked over yourself. Tired eyes. Yellowish-green bruises on your chest. The only visible reminders that he had touched you and kissed you, nearly faded. You shook your head and walked to your bedroom. Everything was just as you’d left it, bed unmade and clothes strewn about the room. 

You discarded the towel and crawled into your bed, taking the time to set an alarm. You were asleep seconds after your head hit the pillow, your mind brought you sweet memories of being with Adam. 

*

You didn’t get an immediate assignment, which you had expected. That meant over the course of the next week, you’d be going into the office for menial task work. Your days bled together. You saw Ella on your first day back, she wrapped you in a hug. 

“You’re back! Yay!” 

“Yay,” you said meekly, “it’s good to see you, Ella.” 

“Your trip looked amazing. I’m actually about to head out to pick up Adam—he starts shooting in two weeks and we’re going to the site to meet with the directors for a read through. Kind of a ceremonial thing,” her words meant to be light and happy, but hit you like arrows. You tried to smile. 

“That’s great, Ella. I hope you have fun, let me know if I can do anything for you from here.” 

You patted her on the shoulder and hurried past her. When you got to your desk, your heart was racing. You blinked at the computer screen, trying to make sense of the words there. All you could think of was the pit in your stomach. _This isn’t supposed to be upsetting. All the feelings were left in London._ You never expected a future or relationship with him, so why were you thinking about him? 

You shook your head and began typing up your response. 

When you returned to your apartment, you were greeted by silence. You kicked off your heels and fell onto the couch. Your phone buzzed and you refused to look at it, instead deciding to turn the TV on for a distraction. 

There was his face on the news, a slideshow of pictures from your recent press tour with him. You recognized the outfits and backdrops. You sucked in a breath as an imagine flashed across the screen of him walking through a crowd, looking over his shoulder. It looked like a still from a movie. Your eyes followed his and found yourself slightly out of frame. You were staring straight ahead and he was smiling at you. Tears stung your eyes as you turned off the TV and covered your face with a pillow, wishing you could escape this curse. 

*

It had been two weeks since you returned back to normal life. Your days were dull and monotonous. You prayed for a new assignment, as escape from the desk work and four walls. People at the agency still commended you on your work during Adam’s tour. He’d gotten a lot of positive response in the media, despite the one interview which you were able to pacify. They wanted to talk about what he was like. You’d grown used to it, and were able to pull off a convincing smile and make small talk with them easily. 

You filled your annoying amount of free time by trying to get out of your apartment. Walking around the shops, reading by the pier, laying out on the beach. Anything to occupy your mind. 

One of the interns at the agency, Mya, had convinced you to go with her into the city for a party she’d been invited to at one of LA’s most esteemed night clubs. You were hesitant at first. Actually, you outright refused. She wore you down though, with her charming smile and bubbly personality. She was a couple of years younger than you, and it was her first year working in the city. You reluctantly agreed to go with her. She clapped her hands together when you conceded and agreed to meet at your apartment to get ready. 

_Get ready_ , you rolled your eyes. She would be here any minute. You sat on your couch in dark denim and a blouse. Your hair was pulled back in a conservative low-ponytail. 

A knock at the door. You rose and answered it. Mya was already grinning with a bottle of vodka in hand. Her long, chestnut brown hair hung in loose curls at her waist. She wore a very intricate and perhaps dangerously cut red dress. It tied in a halter around her neck, plunged between her breasts and appeared to be completely open-backed. It stopped just at her thighs, leaving them bare all the way down to her black pumps. When she saw you, her face fell. 

“Don’t tell me this is what you’re wearing?” She folded her arms. 

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” You held out your arms and looked down. 

“Please. What _isn’t_ wrong with it?” She brushed past you into your apartment and went straight down the hall toward your bedroom. 

You sighed at the door, shut it, and followed after her. She was already half-way through taking your clothes out of your closet when you found her. 

“Mya, please—I think this is fine,” you were cut short as she held up a hand and pulled out a dress you hadn’t seen in years. 

“That will absolutely not fit. That is from college.” You protested. 

She extended her arm, and urged you to try it on. You sighed, knowing there was no escaping her tenacity and took it to the bathroom. 

You may have heard a seam pop in protest, but the dress was on and zipped. It hugged your figure even better than it ever did when you bought it years ago. The navy blue material accentuated your skin tone and brought out the rosiness in your cheeks. It was strapless and short, but you couldn’t find anything truly wrong with it. When you exited the bathroom, Mya clapped her hands together and gasped. 

“PERFECT!” She exclaimed, “okay, now where is your eyeliner? And we need to get rid of this,” she reached behind you and pulled the elastic out of your hair. It fell forward, framing your face. She gave you small wings on your eyes and a light shade of eyeshadow. Once she was satisfied with your look, she called the cab and you both took turns knocking back shots while you waited. You couldn’t help but think that either something regrettable or something great would happen tonight.


	15. Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You were already tipsy by the time you stepped out onto the curb in front of the club. The atmosphere on this block was electric and alive. There were too many people moving, talking, too many cars and lights—you couldn’t focus on one thing. Mya’s hands clasped yours. The feeling stunned you for a second, you held tight to her small, soft hand and pushed back the thought of what Adam’s felt like. 

You were led through the doors after giving your names to the bouncer, passing by smug faces of people queued to your left. You looked around as the doors revealed a giant room that seemed too big to be real. There was a mezzanine section wrapping around the room. Under it were booths, sofas, and bars and what must’ve been hundreds of people. There was smoke or fog rising to the tall ceilings, pink and purple lights flashing slowly across the room, the only true light source being a two-story back drop on the back wall that was playing various clips you couldn’t make sense of but matched the beat of the music pulsating through your chest. A large stage was covered with equipment and you could make out the shape of a DJ bouncing between the panels. 

Mya wasted no time leading you into the center of the dance floor, grinning as she pulled your arm with both of her hands. You shook your head, feeling both tipsy and too sober for this, and you felt hands push you gently at the hips. Your head whipped around and blue eyes met yours. 

“WOOOOO!” He shouted near your ear as he shuffled you toward the dance floor and continued deeper into the abyss of bodies until he disappeared from sight. Mya laughed at the stranger and danced around you with the crowd, completely uninhibited. You wished you felt the same. You let your head fall back against your shoulders as you looked at the strobe lights dancing on the ceiling and swayed slowly. It had only been a moment, but Mya tapped your shoulder and lifted her hands to show you two drinks. 

She said something inaudible over the loud music and you shook your head at her, pointing to your ear. 

She shrugged and held out a drink. You took it and sipped slowly. It was strong. Surely the bartender had meant to mask the taste of rum. You bit your lip as the alcohol eased your mind and closed your eyes, leaning into the music more now. Mya alternated dancing with you and the people around you. You vibed on your own mostly, enjoying the rhythm that was throbbing in your chest. When you opened your eyes again and looked around, you realized you had drifted away from your original spot and Mya. She was no where in sight, and in fact you didn’t recognize anyone around you. The alcohol had definitely caught up to you now, the music numbed your ears and your movements felt out of your control. Before you could decide which direction to go towards, two hands gripped your waist and began moving your hips. You looked over your shoulder and found an unfamiliar face close to yours. 

“Do that again,” he said in your ear, his hands squeezed your hips and he moved against you. 

You felt yourself blink in slow motion, the song was building to a climax and you let your head fall back and resumed dancing with this stranger at your back. 

You were far enough gone into your daze that he could grope your ass and explore your waist without a protest from you, until your mind conjured you a memory of Adam. His hands on your arms. His breath on your neck, his lips on your shoulder. You leaned your head back, giving him access to your neck. His lips moved up to your ear. 

“What’s your name?” He said, his voice drowning out the music. 

Only it wasn’t his voice. And it wasn’t his cologne filling your ears. Adam’s hands weren’t touching your hips. 

You pulled away from his grasp, your eyes searching a face you didn’t recognize. 

“ _HEY!_ ” Mya tore into view, a drink in her hand and a grin plastered to her face. 

You played into the role, hugging her and slurring her name, walking with her until you were away from the guy whose face was screwed up in confusion. 

You had lead her away from the dance floor, you could actually hear yourself speak again, “Hey, Mya—I think I’m going to go home.” 

“What? But, why?” She looked at you while taking another sip of her drink. 

“I’ve had a lot of fun! I’m just tired, I think I want to go to bed,” you said. 

“Okay girl, next time we stay out until DAWN!” She giggled, leaning in to kiss your cheek. 

You looked at her again as she danced her way into the crowd, oblivious to strangers. She seemed to know everyone already. You took your phone out of your clutch and called for a cab. 

You stumbled into your apartment, pulling the heels off of your feet and tossing them by the door. You made your way through the darkness, hands groping the walls to find the light switch. Suddenly feeling claustrophobic, you tried to to pull the tight dress off. You couldn’t find the zipper immediately and toppled over the couch. Your body thudded against the wood floors and you groaned. 

Resigned to laying on the floor you were destined for, and reached for your phone. A number you didn’t have saved in your contacts had texted you an hour ago. 

_You didn’t seem to enjoy that at all._

_Im srry I don’t think you have the right number_ , you responded. 

_it’s Adam._

*

The light from your window burned your eyes. Your head was threatening to split your skull. You groaned and shielded your eyes from the light. You sat up and looked around. At some point you ended up on the couch. At another point, you’d managed to get out of that death trap of a dress. 

You groaned and stood up against your body’s pleading and made your way to the bathroom. Last night’s makeup had migrated to parts of your face it was never meant to be. Your hair was like a scary haystack. You turned the shower on and tried to wash away what you could of what you promised would be your last experience with night clubs. 

You grabbed your phone from the coffee table and plugged it on your bedside table, settling in for the best hangover nap of your life, when you got a text notification. 

It was Mya. 

_I hope you had fun! I’ll see you Monday!_

_Mya, thank you...I’m sorry I didn’t text you, I pretty much passed out as soon as I got home. I’m sorry I left you alone._ You felt a pang of guilt as you typed. You’d left her at a club alone. Something could have happened to her. 

_I wasn’t alone! Go look at insta—I ran into other people from the agency :)_

You sighed in relief, feeling thankful that abandonment wouldn’t weigh on your heart for years to come. Not based on this experience, at least. 

As you backed out of your texts from Mya, something caught your eye. A number you hadn’t saved. Your heart sank into your stomach which in turn tied a noose around it as the recognition set in. 

_“You didn’t seem to enjoy that at all.”_

_“Im srry I don’t think you have the right number”_ , you responded. 

_“it’s Adam.”_

_“why do you still have my # adam”_

_“fuck off, what are you 13 years old?”_

_“were you at the party?”_

_“No, but the guy I hired to stalk you was.”_

_“I gotta go throw up”_

_“ I was kidding, don’t be an idiot. Yes I was at the party.”_

_“Did you throw up?”_

_“no Icant get out of this stupid dress”_

_“Want some help?”_

Your face burned with embarrassment as you read through the conversation. You guessed you had fallen asleep or thrown up, probably both judging by the taste lingering in your mouth. _Fuck_. 

You threw your phone against the pillow and closed your eyes.


	16. Proposition

You had fallen back into a regular routine over the next few weeks. Your new assignment wasn’t to a person at all, but to the interns. You were meant to walk them through scenarios and basic training. It was dull work and you often felt like you were babysitting, but it was fine. 

You had deleted the messages from Adam after a few days of going back to reread them, deciding it was too toxic for your peace of mind, and thankfully he hadn’t pressed you for any more contact. _He must be onsite shooting by now,_ you thought. And you didn’t even know where that was taking place, nor did you care to find out. 

You were seated at a cafe in the city on a sunny afternoon, reading a sci-fi novel while sipping an iced latte. You used excursions like this to convince yourself you were back to normal, but something inside of you was still holding on. 

You set down your book and pulled at your phone, resigning to distract yourself. You found yourself in your camera roll, scrolling through the various pictures you’d taken with Mya, California sunsets, and whatever else had struck your interest. You felt a breath hitch in your throat when you came across a particular picture. It stood out on its own, as it was a picture of you alone. The picture Adam had taken of you in London. You stared at it, imagining the view from where he sat and then recalling how he looked right after this had been taken. He’d laughed and held the phone out of your reach. 

Without thinking you uploaded the picture to Instagram, captioning it _Instapic_ and put your phone facedown. A smile crept on your face as you resumed reading your book. 

*

You were in a meeting with your interns, talking away about air travel protocol when your phone chimed. You glanced down at the message and felt your heart skip a beat. 

“Let’s disperse and regroup in 20 minutes,” you said quietly to your group as you picked up your belongings and exited the conference room. You went straight for the front doors of the building and found a quiet bench to sit on and unlocked your phone. 

“ _Hey girl. Miss you, hope everything’s going well...listen, I have a question but I don’t know how to ask._ ” Ella wrote. 

_”What’s going on? Is everything okay?”_ you wrote, your pulse quickening. 

_”I’m good, I just have noticed somethings going on with Adam...he’s been really quiet and like FRUSTRATED this whole trip...I’ve seen him blow up once or twice but now he’s getting set off like constantly. I guess I just want to know if you noticed anything weird when you were with him?”_

You gritted your teeth, imagining Adam taking his anger at you out on your innocent friend, remembering the dent he left in a wall in front of you. 

_”no, I’m sorry. But, Ella don’t let him treat you like that”_

_”it’s really fine, I’m sorry putting you on the spot like that. I just want to make sure he’s okay, I don’t want it to bleed into his work, whatever it is.”_

You felt a pang of guilt. 

_”keep me posted okay? I’m sorry he’s being an ass.”_

You exited the threat with Ella and began dialing a number you’d had memorized for weeks despite all your efforts to forget it. 

The other end answered after a few rings, you could hear the sound of a shower in the background, but there was no greeting. 

“Don’t be an asshole to my friend.” You said firmly. 

“Don’t be an asshole to me, then.” His voice was low and flat as if he was already tired of talking to you. 

You, on the other hand, felt an immediate reaction to hearing his voice again. Your heart pounded in your chest and you held your jaw tight. 

“I’m _not_ being asshole. I’m trying to get on with my life, but you—you keep popping up!” 

“I don’t think you’re trying that hard,” he said your name softly into the phone. At the same moment your phone buzzed. A text message. You pulled the receiver away and looked at the message. It was a screenshot of your Instagram post from last week. 

You pinched the bridge of your nose and groaned, “Okay fine, I suck at this. What do you want from me, Adam?” 

He chuckled darkly and the line went dead. You blinked, your eyes searching the ground in front of you and let the phone fall from your ear. You sat there a moment longer, collecting yourself, and returned to the conference room. 

Late that night you received an email you’d been expecting since your phone call this afternoon. 

Travel plans to a place you’d never heard of in Ireland. Only, you’d realized the email wasn’t from the agency, it was from Adam himself. The round trip would last for 3 days, starting at 5:30am. You glanced at the time on your phone and cursed Adam as you jumped from your bed and began a scene that felt all too familiar to you—except this time the excitement was radiating off of you. 

You called your boss at the agency on your way to the airport, having prepared your lie in your head for the last two hours. 

“I have to go back home to the east coast, I’m so sorry for the last minute communication...it’s a personal emergency and I’m on my way to the airport now.” 

She wasn’t phased, giving her condolences in monotone. Your track record wouldn’t give her any reason to doubt you, you ended the call and leaned back into the seat. 

The flight was practically empty, though it hardly mattered since Adam had booked you in first class. You settled into the seat and allowed the soft hum of the airplane to lure you into sleep. 

When you made your way out of the terminals and baggage claim, you weren’t quite sure what would happen next. You stood awkwardly for a moment, deciding to pull out your phone. Just then, a voice behind you spoke your name. 

“Hey, kid.” He said. If you hadn’t burned the memory of his voice saying your name, you probably wouldn’t have recognized him. You craned your neck to look up at him, he seemed even taller than you remembered. He was in sweatpants and a hoodie pulled tight. A cap and sunglasses obscured his face from view. Behind him stood a very obvious bodyguard. 

“Sir, we should move along.” He said flatly. 

He nodded, taking your bags from your hands and started walking toward the doors. He led you directly into an empty backseat. The driver waited for you two to get settled, then drove off. 

You sat quietly, unable to bring forth any words to say to him. 

“Ella is at the hotel. She thinks I’m at the gym.” He offered. 

You nodded, playing with your hands in your lap. 

You could tell he was looking at you, but couldn’t bring yourself to make eye contact. 

After a moment of not getting anything out of you, he rolled up the partition and moved until he was kneeling in front of you, his hands covered yours on your lap. Your eyes met his and he held your gaze. 

“Hey.” He said softly. 

“Hey.” You echoed, feeling both comforted and anxious about his touch. 

“Tell me what’s happening.” He demanded, his tone still soft. The rocking of the car causing him to bounce slightly, but his eyes never left yours. 

“Not now.” You said quietly, feeling the threat of tears prick your eyes. 

He sighed and sat back down as the car came to a halt. The security exited and opened the door for you both. You followed him quietly from a distance inside the building while security handled your bags. 

He led you to his suite which was very similar to what you’d been seeing on your recent travel. You noticed a large balcony on this one and a glimpse of a jacuzzi. 

He closed the door behind the security. He turned on his heel and took very long, confident strides until his was directly in front of you. His hands covered your shoulders and traveled up your neck until he could tilt your head back to look at him. He leaned in and his lips found yours. Your eyelids fluttered and closed. The feeling of his lips moving against yours washed you over with calm and stirred excitement deep inside of you that you hadn’t felt in a over a month. 

His kiss was soft, his hands held your face to him as he pulled away, leaving his forehead pressed against yours. You dropped your hands which had unknowingly risen to his biceps. 

You clenched your jaw as he pulled away from you completely and searched your face for answers. 

“I want to offer a proposition.” He finally said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the cliffhanger! ❤️


	17. Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You could tell even from your dizzying orientation that you were in a bedroom now. He kicked the door shut behind him and walked to the center of the floor, biting your thigh on the way which earned him a slap on the arm. He seemed to not even feel it. 

Adam pulled you down from his shoulder slowly by your hips, dragging your body down his as you gripped his shoulders. He hovered with you at eye level for a moment, pressing his lips against yours and leaned down as he resumed lowering you to the floor. His hands held your waist so tight, you were sure there’d be bruises there painted by his fingertips in the morning. 

You laced your fingers together behind his neck, standing on your tiptoes to be closer to him. He took your bottom lip into his mouth and sucked in it gently. While he nipped, his hands slid underneath your shirt. His fingers and palms touched your skin. Your hips, your ribs, your back—as if he was testing to make sure you were real. 

He stepped into you, forcing you to walk backwards until your knees hit the edge of the bed and continued until you fell backward. He crouched down in front of you, meeting your eyes briefly. The hazel of his irises were darkened. Even from this distance, you could see the lust dancing in them. He grasped your ankles one at a time and slipped your shoes off, letting them fall to the floor with a thud. His hands traveled up your ankles, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind them until they reached the apex of your thighs, his thumbs tracing the creases of your thighs outwardly toward your hips. The sensation sent pulses of electricity through your nerve endings, you held your breath as his fingertips dipped under the waistband of your skirt and pulled it down past your hips. He allowed it to fall to the ground and reached for your tights. 

You opened your mouth in protest as you saw his intentions through his smirk as he ripped them open and pulled them off of your legs. 

“I told you I hate these fucking things,” he muttered as he dragged his fingers up the center of your core. 

You flushed as you realized you were already wet and he would definitely be able to tell through your underwear. 

His thumb slipped underneath the fabric and rubbed circles against your skin. Your legs instinctively tried to clamp shut as the bundle of nerves sang out in agreement with his movements. He pushed your knee back with his other hand, a soft _no, _fell from his lips.__

__He looked at your face again, his cheek twitched. He stood up suddenly, making quick work of his belt and pants. He kicked off his briefs and grabbed your wrists, pulling you into a sitting position. You looked up at him through your lashes as he raised a hand to your face. His thumb pressed against your bottom lip until you parted, his thumb slowly crept into your mouth and pressed flatly against your tongue. You could taste yourself. You closed your lips around his thumb and sucked._ _

__A soft sound escaped his throat and he retracted his thumb. All at once his hands were under your arms, lifting you up and tossing you up further onto the bed, you landed just below the pillows, the breath escaping your throat as he crawled up your body. His mouth burned against your skin as he kissed, licked, and bit his way up. Small cries escaped your mouth from the tiny assaults. Your hands found his face finally after he bruised your breasts and pulled him to your lips. He readily obliged, kissing you deeply and in that aggressive way that both frightened and invigorated you. One hand against the mattress near your head stabilized him, the other pushed your legs apart and allowed him access to you. He brushed up against you, teasing you at first. His eyes darted down to your hips as he moved slowly back and forth across your sensitive skin. After several seconds, you were aching to feel him tear you apart. You whimpered and bucked your hips towards his. He was merciful, thrusting against you roughly. The familiarity of his body against yours was beautiful. The way he was stretching you with every stride was intense. A good kind of pain._ _

__You gritted your teeth as he increased his speed, resting against his elbow and using his other hand to explore your body. Your gaze was fixed on his face. His lips were parted. His eyes glimmering and flickering from one part of your body to another. His hair bounced with each movement, causing it to obscure his face._ _

__You reached up and pushed his hair back. His response to kiss you was immediate, impulsive. His tongue explored your mouth while his hand eclipsed your breast and rolled your nipple between his finger and thumb. Your body ached for release and you moaned softly against his lips._ _

__He pulled back suddenly, a grimace on his face. “Oh _fuck_...well, this is what you get for leaving me...for a...month,” he drew in sharp breaths as his body trembled and his thrusts slowed. He rested his forehead against yours as his breathing slowed. _ _

__“I’ll get you next time,” he said through labored breaths._ _

__You felt a smile creep to your face and kissed the tip of his nose, “I’ll hold you to that.”_ _

__He moved off of you and lay on his side, facing you. You turned to face him, your hand stretched out to stroke his shoulder. He studied you for a second before turned and kissing your forearm. You smiled and he bit you softly. His hand reached for your hip and dragged you closer to him. He was staring at you with an intensity that made you want to look away, though you knew he wouldn’t let you. He kissed your forehead and gently pulled your head to his chest. You took a deep breath through your nose, eager to remember his scent. You sighed and closed your eyes, shutting out all of the doubts and insidious thoughts you’d had since last night—which seemed years away by now. Fatigue took over you. The comfort of his scent and warmth lulled you to sleep._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think he’s probably a biter. What about you?


	18. Insatiable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You sat up in the darkness, your chest beating hard and sweat has dampened the hair at the nape of your neck. You look around and found yourself in a room you didn’t recognize. A body with shoulders that stretched out painfully and shoulder length locks lay beside you, breathing softly. _Adam._ you sighed, reaching out your hand until your fingertips made contact with his back. After a few moments of tracing shapes on his skin, he finally stirred. He turned over to face you, his eyes still closed. You traced your fingers over the shape of his full lips. He puckered them against your fingertips. 

“Adam, we didn’t talk about Ella.” You finally said. 

“I distinctly remember us doing that. Amongst other things,” he said, his voice cloaked in sleep. 

“No—we didn’t talk about what we’re going to say to her, you know. _Today_. Why I’m here?” You shook his shoulder until he opened his eyes. 

He sighed, propped himself up on his elbow, “Okay. What do you want to do?” 

You looked at him, pondering. 

“I was hoping you’d have an idea.” You finally said. 

“I would just say, ‘Hey, Ella. You remember your friend here, I fucked her into oblivion in London and now I’m going to keep doing that, probably forever. So get used to seeing her, also you work for John now.’” His voice rose and fell with sarcasm and you shook your head. 

“I just don’t want her to feel rejected, okay. I don’t want her to feel blindsided by seeing me here.” You looked down at your hands. 

“Listen, kid. If she cares about you, it won’t hurt her for that long. She’ll bounce back. She’s not even getting the short end of the stick.”

You nodded, still feeling anxious. 

“Look at me.” He demanded. 

You peeked up at him. 

“Everything is going to be fine. Are you going to join me on set tomorrow?” He raised his eyebrows and offered a smile. 

“Um—can I?”

“What are they going to do, fucking tell me ‘no’? Of course you can. Come here,” he said, opening his arms. 

You scooted towards him and turned so he was spooning you. His arm eclipsed most of your body. His mouth found your neck and placed a soft kiss there. 

You lay there, trying to find the strength to go back to sleep, but anticipation and excitement was causing your stomach to do summersaults. 

Adam was able to fall back to sleep quickly, his arm held you tightly in place. 

You allowed your mind to wander. You imagined what life would be like in a week. Would you get reassigned that quickly? You remembered how Adam smiled because of you during his photo shoot. Would that keep happening? Was this an actual relationship? No, of course not...he wants you to _work_ for him. How long would he keep this up? How serious was he, and more importantly, how serious were you? 

Eventually the sun crept into the room. You slid out from under his arm and wandered the suite until you found the bathroom. The shower was a massive glass stall with a bench and two shower heads. The tub was across the room, looking out of a window. You stepped into the shower and fiddled with the controls until steam surrounded you and you felt your muscles relax. You sat down on the bench and pulled your legs up to your chest, resting your arms on your knees and your head on your forearms. The warmth was so inviting and relaxing, and your lack of sleep over the past 48 hours was only adding to the trance-like state. 

You didn’t hear the shower door open or the sound of his feet on the tiles as he approached you. You lifted your head when his hands touched your shoulders and found him crouched in front of you. His hair slicked back. 

“Are you okay?” He asked over the roar of shower. 

You offered a weak smile and nodded, “Just tired.” 

He pulled your legs down from the bench and grabbed your hands, pulling you to your feet as he rose. His arms wrapped around your waist. You stood on your tiptoes to slip your arms around his neck, pressing your body firmly against his as he supported most of your weight. His chin found your shoulder and rested there. 

Adam’s hands roamed your back and sides, tracing the curves of yours hips and the small of your back. He had gone from sweet and cuddly to rock hard in a matter of seconds, it seemed. He pressed his growing arousal against your belly. You felt his lips curve into a smile against your neck and rolled your eyes, pulling back from him. His devious smile was still plastered to his face. 

“You’re ridiculously insatiable.” You said, folding your arms across your chest. 

He licked his lips and took a step toward you. You picked up the shower massager from the wall mount and aimed it for his face. You laughed as he was jolted by the splash of water. 

“So you want to play hard-to-get, huh?” His eyes were glued to you as he grinned at you. 

You shook your head, unable to fight the smile on your face as you aimed the shower head at his chest. 

He took a step toward you, you countered by turning away to run but his arms wrapped around you, holding you in place as you squealed with laughter. 

“You know I can take whatever I want,” he said quietly in your ear. 

You struggled fruitlessly against his hold on you, and all at one he released you, grabbing the handle from you and pressing his palm against your throat. He’d walked you backwards into the cold shower wall in a matter of seconds and pinned you against it. His knee parted your legs as you tried to wriggle free, which was completely useless—it’s not like he’d let you get away anyway. With one hand he managed to turn the dial of the massager to a more direct and powerful spray. His eyes met yours briefly as you realized what was happening, you tried to protest. The hand on your throat tightened it’s grip and he moved quickly to eclipse your mouth with his. You were overcome with the intensity of his kiss, hardly noticed his knee lift your leg up, parting your legs. Your eyes flew open and a strangled groan escaped your mouth as he focused the massager on your sex. He moved away from your mouth and turned your head to the side so he could bite and kiss your neck. The amount of sensations happening to your body was overwhelming. Your hips bucked with no where to go against the jets of water hitting you _there_. You let your head fall back against the wall as your body convulsed and your breath became hitched in your throat. Adam’s hand fell from your throat and traveled down your body until two fingers crept passed your folds and began pumping in and out of you quickly. You felt his fingertips curl as he stroked your g-spot, causing your legs to quiver. He found your eyes and held them for a moment, despite your body’s urge to shut them tightly and release. He must’ve seen the urge. He picked up the pace with his fingers.

“Come.” He said, his voice low and deep. 

Your eyes rolled back into your head almost on command and soft moans escaped your mouth as you felt every pulse of your orgasm wrack through your body. Adam could do little to stabilize you. Just as you started coming down your leg buckled beneath you and Adam withdrew, grabbing your waist and kept you upright until you could secure your footing. You laughed breathlessly as the intensity from the orgasm brought a flush to your cheeks and a buzz in your head. Your chest heaved, trying to get oxygen back into your lungs after what must’ve been a full two minutes of straining and exhaling only. 

Adam chuckled against your hair, you could feel his dick pressed against your hip, begging to be touched. But just as he turned you around and pressed you against the wall, you heard someone shuffling in the suite. 

“Adam? Hurry up, okay—we have to leave in 15 minutes! I’m going to call the car,” Ella’s voice called from the living room. 

You both froze. Your heart sank and Adam sighed in frustration. 

“You owe me one now.” He said as he shut off the water and reached for towels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long—hopefully the amount of gross smut is redemption ❤️


	19. Intimidating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t believe I’ve gotten nearly 30k words, 20 chapters, and over 500 reads out of a fantasy I had of Adam Driver backing me into a corner. 🤷🏼♀️
> 
> Thank you for all of the love, I promise the story isn’t ending any time soon. Maybe I’ll write something else after this, who knows ❤️❤️❤️

Adam stalled, giving you plenty of time to make it less obvious that you’d both just come out of the shower. He was blow drying his hair while you braided yours into a simple plait and pulled small pieces out to frame your face. You ushered him to go get your bags. 

You paired a black graphic t-shirt with light wash denim. You quietly stepped out of the bathroom and waited for Adam to join you. He was beautifully executed, of course. A black cashmere sweater with dark trousers accentuated his fair skin and dark hair. 

You exhaled sharply and nodded as he opened the bedroom door. 

Ella was in the kitchenette sipping her coffee and scrolling through her phone. She didn’t look up as you both entered into view. 

“Anything you need before we—“ she cut her sentence short as she looked up and found you. 

“Oh my god!” she exclaimed your name, curiously looking between the two of you, “What are you doing here?”

You rubbed your arm nervously, “Um, it’s kind of a long story—“

“—I asked her to come here, Ella.” Adam’s arm fell onto your shoulder and pulled you closer. 

Ella watched the interaction, her mouth agape, “I’m—I’m sorry, I’m just like, not processing this whatsoever so—can you just explain, like in full detail?” 

You pulled away from Adam’s arm and walked towards her until you could hold her hand in yours, “Can we take a separate cab?”

Her eyes were still wide as she nodded, raising her phone to her ear. 

*

“Wow. So, like—that’s insane he just _came onto you?_ I have never seen Adam flirt, I can’t even imagine that.” She let out a hesitant laugh. 

You’d just spent 15 minutes explaining the past two months—sparing her the dirty details, much to her dismay. 

“But,” she turned to you, saying your name softly, “aren’t you a little worried? If the agency finds out—I mean _I_ would never tell them obviously, but like—you could get _fired_.”

You nodded, “It’s a little scary...but, I guess I trust him. He’s only shown me sincerity. I think even if it were to end, he wouldn’t try to sabotage me, and vice versa.”

“But, how are you guys even going to see each other?” Her brow was knit together in concern. 

You swallowed the lump in your throat and tried to find your voice amongst the anxiety swelling up inside of you, “Actually—Adam came up with a clever proposition...but it’s not either of our decisions to make,” you studied her face for a second, “he wants to make a request for me to come on full time and in return he’s secured a spot for you in John’s entourage.” You bit your lip. 

She was quiet for a moment.

“If you hate the idea then just tell me, I’m so sorry—I can figure something else out I just haven’t had time to think—“ 

“Are you KIDDING ME?” She nearly shouted. 

You recoiled, preparing for the slap you knew you deserved. 

“THAT’S FUCKING INCREDIBLE!” She exclaimed, clapping her hands together. 

You opened your eyes and looked at her in disbelief, “Wait, seriously? You’re not furious?” 

“Are you _joking_?” She shoved your shoulder playfully, “I’d do anything to follow that man around all day. Besides, I’ve been working for Adam for two years, I’m ready for a change.” 

You let out a shaky breath that rattled your chest, “I’m so happy that you’re not angry. It’s been worrying me to death.” 

The car came to a stop and the door was opened for you both. She smiled and patted you on the leg, “Don’t be silly, I would never stand in the way of love. Come on, you’re going to love this studio.”

Her words hit you like bullets. You felt stuck to the seat. You heard her urging you out of the car and shook your head to regain your senses. 

You walked arm-in-arm with Ella into a massive-multistory, unmarked building. She led you through a series of doors and hallways until you were in a gigantic hangar that had been turned into a movie set. The two of you stood far back from the scene. There was a familiar chaotic and excited atmosphere about the place. You could easily see at least 20 people working in this room alone. From what you could tell, this film must have a massive budget based on the props and machinery going into production. 

Ella was excitedly chatting away in your ear, catching you up on the scene they’d been working on for the past few days. 

You felt your pulse quicken as Adam walked into view. His face was serious, his mouth held tight. Even from this far away, his walk and demeanor was confident and... _intimidating_. You bit your lip as he took direction and nodded, turning towards his costars. 

Ella pulled you into a small screening room filled with monitors where you could see the massive green screen backdrop being edited into movie magic. You were mesmerized as Adam moved about the screen, yielding what looked to be a very real lightsaber compared to the plastic one you’d seen in person. He and his costars moved in unison, perfectly choreographed. 

Later, you returned to the set and found a spot off to the side where you wouldn’t disturb anyone. You watched in silence, completely enamored with the work going on. 

Ella’s words from the cab came back to you. Were you in love? You’d certainly never used that word with Adam. He’d never said that to you. In fact, you don’t think you’d felt love since you were in high school—and even then, it couldn’t have been true. Adam’s life was too complicated. You didn’t stand a chance of a future with him. But if it wasn’t love—what were you doing here? 

You were pulled out of your concentration when a tall, cloaked figure brushed past your shoulder, “Go to my trailer,” he said in a lowered, flat voice that you didn’t recognize. You blinked and looked behind you to see dark robes turning a corner without looking back at you. 

You followed after him, he pushed past a fire exit door and led you outside through what looked like a campsite of RV’s and semi-permanent trailers. He walked up a ramp to one of the small buildings. The door read **DRIVER** in black letters. You stepped through the open door and found Adam pulling off leather gloves and his very complicated costume one piece at a time. You stood awkwardly in the door frame, still feeling intimidated by his presence. 

He glanced up at you briefly before pulling the hooded cloak off and removing the heavily padded vest, leaving him in tight black trousers and a black long sleeved shirt. 

“You can sit.” He said finally. 

You found a couch and sat with your legs crossed . 

He raked a hand through his hair and grabbed a water bottle from a counter before striding over to where you sat. 

“So, what did you think?” He asked, his face and voice returning to normal. 

You leaned in, “It was so amazing. I mean, it was—it’s really incredible. I had no idea how _big_ the set would be.”

He smiled, “I’m glad you liked it. What’d you think of me?” 

You were taken aback unsure why your opinion would matter, “I mean...amazing. You’re incredible.” 

His smile faltered for a second, “Thank you.” 

“What did you expect me to say?” You asked defensively. 

“I just thought you might have some constructive criticism or something. It’s fine, though.”

“I’m a PA, Adam, not an acting coach,” you folded your arms and sat back against the cushion. 

He leaned in, his face softened, “I value your opinions. I want to hear your thoughts and ideas, whatever they may be.” 

You huffed, “Well, I’ll be sure to be extra critical next time you’re up there.” 

“Sounds great,” he chuckled, “I don’t need to be back on set for another hour.” 

“Oh?” You said coyly. 

“Mhm.” He smirked.


	20. Solace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You got back to the room late. You quietly undressed in the bathroom and turned on the shower. Adam joined you after a moment, his eyes were wild with energy but his body moved slowly and stiffly. There was tension in his mouth as he stood under the roaring water, you could tell he was lost in thought. 

You turned up the heat in the shower and guided him gently towards the bench. It felt a bit ridiculous to push against him and expect him to take a step. Like a butterfly trying to move an iceberg. He obliged, his eyes cast down, still consumed by his thoughts. 

You stood in front of his knees and rubbed small circles into his shoulders, feeling the quarter-sized knots roll under the tense muscles. He didn’t flinch, in fact he hardly blinked as your hands tried to relieve his body of tension and guarding. After a few moments with no indication from him that he was enjoying what you were doing, you stopped. Hesitantly, you raised a knee and rested it on the bench beside his thigh. His hands grasped the small of your back instinctively and pulled you towards him, his face falling between your breasts. He found solace there. You utilized his hands supporting your back and your palms on his shoulders to lift your other knee onto the bench. He leaned back and brought you with him, his face still pressed into your soft skin, and now your entire body rested against his torso. Your hands raked through his hair carefully, breaking up the tangles from hair product used to keep it perfectly in place on set. You reached to the side and picked up his shampoo bottle and popped the top open to pour some into your palm. You smiled as he sighed against your chest, his breath tickled your skin and raised goosebump You used your other hand to grasp the hair at the nape of his neck and pull down gently, turning his face upward. His eyes were still closed as you massaged the shampoo into his scalp. His hands rubbed idly from your shoulders down to your ass, lingering on the more supple skin before continuing on their journey back and forth. 

You reached for the detachable shower head, a smirk forming on your face as you remembered it’s last use, and carefully washed away the suds from his hair. The soft scent lingered in your nose, drawing deep breaths from your chest. You reached again for his conditioner and repeated the process of working it through his hair. This time, his eyes were on your face. His hands had found a home on your hips as you finished washing away the remaining suds. You looked down at him as your thumbs caressed his temples and slowly leaned in to kiss him. He readily accepted your lips, moving against them gently and slowly—more slowly than you were used to. _He’s tired_ , you mused. You pulled back from him unexpectedly, his eyes opened in alarm as you stood up and tugged on his arm with both of your hands.

“C’mon, it’s bedtime.” You said softly. 

You both exited the shower, drying off your bodies in the steamy room in a comfortable silence. As you finished getting ready for bed you reached into Adam’s chest of drawers and pulled out one of his t-shirts. You held it to your nose briefly and sniffed. His familiar, cedary scent filled your nostrils and calmed you as you pulled it over your head and stuck your arms through. It was of course, too large for your frame. It hung more like a dress on your figure than a shirt. You sauntered over to the bed and pulled back the duvet, crawling to the middle where he lay and nestled into his side with your head on his chest. His heart beat was steady and slow. His hand picked up your wrist and pressed your palm to his lips. 

“Thank you,” he murmured into your hair. 

You couldn’t be sure what he was referring to, but you kissed his chest in response and soon found yourself drifting off. 

The next morning you woke to Adam’s body molded around yours. His arms held you tightly and his legs were bent in the shape of yours. You sat up and reached around him to turn off the alarm, causing him to stir and pull you tighter against his chest. You stifled a laugh and peppered kisses along his cheek. He finally released his hold on you and opened his eyes reluctantly. 

“You need to get dressed,” you said, tracing circles on his chest. 

“Don’t tell me what to do.” He yawned and stretched his arms above his head. 

“You realize it’ll be my job to do that soon, right?” You shot him a questioning glance.

“Mmhm. So don’t give me any grief until next week,” he kissed your cheek and moved to get out of the bed and walked into the bathroom. 

You sat there, a smile teasing at the corner of your lips as Adam’s head popped out of the bathroom, “Oh by the way, I have a gift being delivered for you.”

You looked up at him quizzically, “What?”

He didn’t offer an explanation, he merely smiled at you as he returned his toothbrush to his mouth and moved out of frame. 

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door, but it was far too early for housekeeping and Ella had a key to the suite. 

You tied a robe around your waist and glanced at Adam as you exited the bedroom. He smirked at you in the mirror and shrugged. 

You opened the door to a front desk attendant and a delivery man. 

“Good morning, Ms. Driver, I have your delivery,” the attendant said warmly, gesturing to the apathetic man in khakis. 

“Oh—actually, it’s Mr. Driver’s suite, I’m not—“ you flushed realizing you were sounding more and more like a hooker, “um, please come in.” 

You held the door open for the delivery man as he wheeled in a dolly which carried many items. You scratched your head as he placed them against the wall. 

Just in time, Adam rounded the corner and shook hands with the delivery man and signed, thanking him. He nodded to the hotel worker and shut the door behind them. 

You were still staring at the boxes when he clasped his hands together. 

“Open it.” 

You took a step forward and began pulling back the tape on the box. 

Inside the first, you found a compact, wooden easel. It was heavy despite its size. Your eyes scanned it in awe and you turned to look at Adam who was smiling from ear to ear. 

“Why did you do this?” You said quietly. 

“You said you wanted to paint. There’s going to be a lot of boring training days and days off, so...I got you something to keep you occupied,” he took a step toward you and wrapped his arms around your waist, “although if you hate it I’ve got some other ideas to occupy your free time,” he leaned down and bit your neck playfully. 

You laughed, looking at the boxes which contained canvases and paint, feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude. _He was actually listening when I said that?_ You wondered. 

“I’m going to be in a sweaty gym all day training, there’s not much point in you being there. Why don’t you stay here and play with this stuff?” He swayed you from side to side.

You nodded, unable to wipe the smile from your face and turned around in his arms to face him, “Thank you.”

You stretched to kiss him on the lips.

“I should get going, Ella has probably already called four times,” he said as he ran a hand through his hair. 

You nodded, “Okay. I’ll...be here.” 

He smirked and pulled on his shoes, closing the door behind him. 

You were left alone with the fresh supplies and butterflies in your stomach. It was hard to even look at the gifts at your feet without tears from overwhelming gratitude stinging your eyes. Ella’s words echoed in your head again. _Is this an act of love?_ you wondered.


	21. Tides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *smutsmutsmutsmut*

The white canvas had been spattered with paint. Black, red, purple, blue. You carefully blended together lines until they were blurred and cohesive. 

You stretched your arms above your head and glanced at your phone. Hours had passed since Adam had left and he had certainly been too busy to text you. No emails from work. You frowned as a familiar feeling of uselessness washed over you. You turned back to the painting and saw galaxies spread across the canvas. You picked up a fresh paint brush and coated it in white. You flicked it in front of the canvas, casting stars across the painting. 

You sighed and began cleaning up your tools. Adam wouldn’t be back for hours more, and you were desperate to get some fresh air. Luckily, Ellie had requested an extra keycard for you to come and go as you pleased. 

You laced up a pair of running shoes and grabbed your essentials, tucking them into your windbreaker and made your way out of the room. The whole walk down you couldn’t get the image of Adam’s face when he saw the delivery being made out of your head. Pure excitement. Like a little kid on Christmas. You touched your lip absentmindedly as you smiled at the memory. 

It was a very standard, overcast day for this part of the hemisphere. At least you could be thankful for no rain. You took a deep breath of fresh air and began walking down a street you didn’t recognize. You were thankful for the anonymity of your job. Being able to blend seamlessly with regular society even though you were traveling with those that they idolized was really a unique experience. No one knew your name and no one was pressed to find out. You comfortably wandered through the city streets, allowing yourself to go wherever the wind took you. 

You found your way back to the hotel after a couple of hours wandering around. Housekeeping had already been by and refreshed the bedroom. You kicked off your shoes and pants. Your shirt soon joined them in a pile on the floor. Slowly, you crawled into the middle of the bed, pulling the throw blanket up over your body and grabbed your phone for some idle social media scrolling. Soon, the warmth from the bed and the slow, steady breaths from your lungs would lull you to sleep. 

You napped hard. Hard enough to not hear Adam come back from training. You didn’t hear him call your name from the living room, nor did you hear him set down his keys and wallet on the end table by the bedroom door. You didn’t feel his hands gently turn your hips until you rolled from your side to your back. It didn’t even wake you as he snuck onto the bed and carefully pulled aside your underwear. 

What did wake you was the delectation of his stubbly chin brushing against your soft thigh, his fingers dragging down your folds until they found your entrance. You were still in a fog as his tongue found the delicate bundle of nerves between your thighs and began a blissful dance. 

You moaned, trying to form a cohesive thought but only managed to part your legs further, granting him further access to your core. He took the extra space, settling in closer and leaned into the gracious work his mouth was doing to you. His fingers moved slowly inside of you. Gently. You opened your eyes and found dark waves of hair splayed out over your thighs and his free hand pressed against your hip. He continued his ministrations, eliciting soft sounds of encouragement from your throat. Your fingers tangled themselves in his hair as he brought you to the brink of climax, your mouth slack with the anticipation building. But all at once, he pulled away from you. Before you could think of the profanity you wanted to scream at him, he plunged into your hips. His hands gripped your knees, pushing them apart as he pumped into you. A mangled groan escaped you from the surprise. His hand traveled down your thigh and rested between your legs so that his thumb could resume the attention his mouth had given. 

You opened your eyes again and found him watching your face. His eyelids were lowered, lips dark and parted. You propped yourself up on your elbows and bit your lip as he caused another swirl of warmth in your stomach to rise. He held your gaze as his thumb rubbed circles with increasing pressure. The effect of his hand and his thrusts was dizzying. You wanted so badly to release but worried he would stop you short again. 

You whimpered as you shut your eyes tightly. 

“No.” He said roughly, “Open your eyes.” 

You obeyed, finding him staring at you darkly, “Adam—I’m gonna—“ your words were accentuated by his thrusts.

He beat you to the punch with another command, “Come.”

You let your head fall back against your shoulders as waves of warmth washed over you, your body went rigid with each convulsion. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” Adam whispered under his breath as he found his release as well. His thrusts slowed until they stopped and he was hovering over you. 

“I’m home, by the way,” he joked after a moment of labored breathing. 

“No shit,” you laughed breathlessly, “welcome back.” 

*

That night after dinner, Adam sat with his nose in a script. He was quiet, and focused. You had utilized all forms of distraction and time-passing on your phone, but didn’t want to disturb him. You stood up and paced the room slowly. Your bags were already packed for departure tomorrow. Adam would be gone before you were to leave for the airport. 

You heard him sigh from the sofa, “Can you calm down, please? Your pacing is distracting.”

You turned on your heel and stood still, your bottom lip pinched between your fingers. 

He rolled his neck on his shoulders and looked back at you, eyebrows raised, “Come here.” 

You walked over to the sofa and stood in front of him, off to the side. 

“What do you want?” He said after a beat. 

“I don’t—nothing. Have you already contacted the agency?” You shuffled your weight. 

“Yes, they approved the transfers,” he said reassuringly. 

“They didn’t ask questions or anything? They didn’t...tell you when the change would take place?”

“Tuesday.” He said, returning to his script. 

“You mean in 3 days, I’ll be back?” You couldn’t help the hopeful tone in your voice. 

“Yeah. I mean, they have to formally ask you but you’re out of town through tomorrow...so, Monday.” 

You smiled to yourself and felt a little weight lift from your shoulders. 

“Was that all?” He asked. You sensed a tinge of annoyance in his voice still. 

You nodded, biting your lip. He didn’t look up, so you retreated from the room into the kitchen. You leaned against the countertop, reading a news article that couldn’t have been more boring. 

You heard him enter the room, the sound of his script thudding against the countertop startled you, causing you to look over your shoulder. His eyes were trained on your backside as he approached and extended his hands to grip your hips. You stood up instinctively and tried to pull his hands away as he pulled your body against his. 

“Adam—your script?” you sighed as his hand slipped beneath the waistband of your pants. 

“Can’t read the script when you’re being so fucking distracting,” he murmured into your ear. 

You pulled back again, looking around to see his face, “I wasn’t trying to—“

His fingers moved against the thin fabric of your underwear, “You’re practically begging for it.” 

You tried to turn around to face him, feeling confused and a little irritated, “No, I really wasn’t.” 

He pulled his hand out of your pants and swooped down to wrap his arms around your thighs and pick you up. You were defenseless as he carried you to the living room where the only light source was the lamp he had been reading under. The curtains were still drawn back and the windows looked down on a quietly bustling city street. 

He dropped you to your feet and roughly pulled your shift above your head. His eyes were focused as he quickly unclasped your bra and let it fall to the ground. 

“Adam, seriously I wasn’t even thinking—“

“Shut up.” He said, cutting you off in a flat, disinterested voice. 

He yanked down your pants and underwear, his hands pushed you backward until you’d stepped out of them completely and backed you up against the window. The cold glass shocked your skin. 

He gave you no time to protest, turning you around and pressing your face and chest against the windowpane. He pulled your hips back and pushed your legs further apart while a hand between your shoulder blades kept you trapped against the glass. 

“Don’t move,” he murmured in your ear as he began to kneel down behind you. 

You felt your heart surge, “Adam—people can totally see us,” you began. 

He swatted you across the ass. It was sharp and stung your skin, drawing a breath from between your grinding teeth. 

He gripped your thighs as his face dove between your legs. It shocked you at first. His tongue traveled your exposed sex and drew a squeak from your chest as he made new explorations into uncharted territory. 

“Adam,” you pleaded as he alternated between nipping, sucking, and plunging his tongue inside of you. 

That only earned you another slap against already reddened skin. You gritted your teeth, your legs trembling as he continued tasting you. 

He stood up quickly and pulled your hips back to meet his. You sighed in relief to be away from the window, but the relief was taken all too quickly as he thrusted you forward, stepping into you until you were pressed from thigh to cheek against the glass. Your palms lay flat on either side of your head as he pounded into you. His fingers dug into your hips as he kept you in place while seeming to need you closer. 

You were sure the glass would break against the pressure and send the both of you free-falling into the city below. He pulled you away, you caught a glimpse of your body outlined on the glass before he pulled you to the sofa. He laid down first, stroking himself as you positioned yourself over him. You hovered for a second, feeling powerful as he watched you. You held onto the back of the sofa for support as you teased him at your entrance. 

Adam was not amused. He huffed angrily and pulled you down by your hips, bucking his own to meet yours midway. 

You cried out as he continued moving you, setting the pace which you would begin to move in unison with. Every time your hips pushed away from his was made you understand why the tide eagerly crawl  
back to the shore. 

His hands left your hips when he knew he could trust you to keep going, they traveled up your sides until they could grope your breasts and tweak your nipples. Your head fell back against your shoulders as your muscles began tightening and contracting. The orgasm ripped through you, you lost control of your movements and fell forward onto his chest. He wrapped his arms around you and held you tightly as your breath rattled in your chest. 

He held you there for a moment, until you came down. 

When he let go, you sat up, feeling weak in the knees. He pushed the hair away from your face and pulled you into a kiss. 

“Now, go to bed so I can work.” He said against your lips, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.


	22. Update

Just wanted to let you guys know I got laid off as a non-essential employee for the duration of social distancing lockdown. I’ll keep writing, I just don’t think I’ll get a chapter out today. 

Hope you’re all doing well ❤️ Stay strong


	23. Waiting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You woke in the middle of the night to the bed shifting under Adam’s weight as he climbed in. You opened your eyes to find him laying on his back, staring at the ceiling and pinching the bridge of his nose. 

You reached out with a hesitant hand and touched his shoulder. His arm flinched under your touch, but he reached out and intertwined his fingers with your own. He pulled you to his body and tucked his arm underneath you. 

“Go back to sleep, doll.” He said softly. 

“ _You_ go to sleep,” you mumbled. 

He chuckled, “Okay.” 

*

You waited outside for the cab that would take you to the airport. Ella hugged you for at least five minutes before letting you leave the hotel that morning and reaffirmed how excited she was to see you soon at least a dozen times. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Adam is well-behaved until you get back,” she winked. 

He grimaced behind her, “Can we go now?” 

She stuck her tongue out at him, “Fine. Text me when you land, okay?” 

You smiled and waved as they got into Adam’s car. 

The pit in your stomach refused to allow you to sleep on the plane. You stared blankly out of the window or reread the same page of your book five times until you finally touched down in Los Angeles. The familiar breeze and sunshine invoked a sense of relief as you made your way home. 

You didn’t know if you should text Adam or if he would text you. He seemed easily exasperated lately, appearing to bear the weight of his stress about filming on his shoulders at all times. 

You: _I’m home, I hope you are doing well._ you sent to Ella. 

Ella: _I’m so glad! I had a chance to talk to John today about working for him, he seems SO nice :)_

You _is that wedding bells I hear?_

Ella _yeah for YOU maybe!_

You set your phone down and rubbed your eyes, unable to allow that idea to start rolling around in your brain. Truthfully, you could hardly tell how serious Adam was about you. _I could just be a good fuck to him._

The screen lit up next to your face. 

Adam: _How was the flight?_

You stared at the letters for a moment. 

You: _It was great. thank you for everything._

Adam _Happy to. I’ll see you soon._

You frowned at your dismissal. _He’s probably just busy._ You plugged your cell phone in and closed your eyes. 

*

You found yourself unable to distract your mind from what would happen on m  
Monday. You tried walking at the pier, going to a café, and venturing downtown to get lost in a sea of people. 

You couldn’t talk to Mya—or anyone really, because what you were doing could still have repercussions, not only for you but potentially for Adam. 

The sunlight warmed your skin as you let your head fall back against your shoulders. You leaned against the bench and let the salty sea air brush against your skin. 

You’d gotten out of the habit of checking your phone to avoid the disappointment of no communication from Adam. You worked your way through a book and a TV show by Saturday afternoon and were coming very close to googling ‘How to sleep for 48 hours straight’. 

_Ding_. An email from work.

Your eyes flitted across the screen. You were to report to your boss’s office Monday morning, first thing for an assignment. 

You sighed and held back the urge to squeal. 

Ella _Girl. Can you send Adam a nude or something...he’s SO pissy it’s driving me insane!_

You couldn’t stop the smile spreading across your face. No, there wasn’t any way to know that he was irritated because he missed you, it could’ve very well been work. But damn, it was to imagine that. 

You _Ha ha. I’ll think about it. Have you fed and watered him? He eats a lot._

Ella _Omg! Doesn’t he though? I mean, he is gigantic so I guess it makes sense LOL_

You shook your head and smiled, wanting to say _”You have no idea.”_

While you texted Ella, you got a notification from Adam. You backed out to read his message. 

Adam _I’m not hungry, but I’ll take the nude photo, thanks._

You felt your heart drop into your stomach and your cheeks flush.

Ella _I was laughing at your text and Adam totally saw over my shoulder._

You swallowed a lump in your throat. 

Adam _Waiting._


	24. Ache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your heart pounded in your chest as you looked at your phone screen. 

You: _I don’t think I will. I don’t reward rude behavior._

You bit your lip, positive this was an out-of-body experience you were witnessing. 

Adam: _I’ll show you rude._

You waited for something to happen, but the three little dots in the text screen disappeared. You set your phone down and hugged a pillow to your chest as your mind and heart raced.

Your feet hit the floor as soon as the sun came up on Monday morning. You tried taking your time getting ready, you spent extra time being meticulous about your appearance. Somehow, you still ended up 15 minutes early to work. You sat in your car as the morning radio host babbled on about a story you were sure was fabricated. Soon, your coworkers would begin trickling into the parking lot. 

You smoothed your hair once more in the rear view mirror and grabbed your bag, exiting the car and filing into the building with the others. Anxiety was causing your stomach to churn as you waited for your boss to unlock her office door. After a few minutes, you heard the familiar _tap, tap, tap_ of her heels down the hall. She sashayed her hips toward you, a coffee in hand. She was a few years older than you. Her sense of style gave that away. Ankle-boots, a royal purple bodycon miniskirt over pantyhose, and a sleeveless button down white silk top tucked into the waistband of her skirt. She always wore her waist-long hair in loose curls. 

“Good morning,” she said warmly. She flashed a smile that you knew she had cultivated over years of practicing in the mirror. 

“Good morning, Eva.” You said cheerfully. 

She unlocked the office door and extended her hand for you to enter. You walked in and sat down at the chair across from her desk. 

After a few moments of her settling in and starting up her desktop computer, she turned to you, pulling a folder out of a meticulous stack of papers. 

“I have an assignment for you,” she let the words fall from her mouth while her eyes scrutinized your face.

You blinked extended your hand for the folder, “That’s wonderful.” 

She withdrew her hand quickly, “--but first I have to say something.” 

You felt your heart surge in your chest and hoped it wasn’t visible. 

She sucked her teeth and said your name carefully, “You have been an excellent addition to this agency. Your clients have had nothing but positive things to say about you, so it feels a bit out of place to say this,” she leaned in, “but you’re a smart girl. You know the rules. No fraternizing, no abuse of title.”

You opened your mouth, “I don’t--”

She held up her palms, “--No, no. I’m not accusing you of anything. It’s _great_ that your level of competence and care has gotten you a personal request from a client to have you in a permanent position. It’s not often this kind of thing happens, so I just have to remind you. Adam Driver is going to be a _very_ important client by this time next year. His career is about to take off. We can’t have a scandal anywhere near his name. Your work here can be replaced, his reputation cannot. Keep that in mind.” 

You swallowed against a lump in your throat, begged your heart to beat regularly, “Of course.”

“Perfect. Here is your travel information, and--” she smiled sincerely as she said your name, “--if anything seems off, please remember it’s best if you come to me first.”

You nodded, taking the folder and trying very hard not to cast your eyes away in shame. 

“I hope you have a great trip. You can take the rest of the day to pack and make your arrangements. It’ll be four months before you return to LA.” She smiled once again before turning to her computer and beginning a new task. 

Once you exited Eva’s office, and were in the safety of your own car, you exhaled a shaky breath. You turned the keys in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot. 

That night, with most of your wardrobe packed into two suitcases and your apartment tidied, you fell onto your bed, exhausted but your mind was racing. Your fingers absentmindedly traced circles on your skin, aching for a touch or to be touched. You had only been with him for three days, but it had been all too easy to fall back into the familiar routine you and Adam had created two months ago. You felt lonely in so many places in this tiny apartment, your shower being one of them. The kitchen table. You had even grown to resent the emptiness of your bed, and the nights’ lack of light snoring in your ear. 

You went through a mental checklist repeatedly until your mind calmed and you could focus on just your breathing. You slipped into unconsciousness gratefully, what seemed like minutes before your alarm went off. 

The airport was busier than you’d expected, but you managed to get to your economy seat on time. You struggled with the lack of legroom, reminiscing the times you’d been booked with Adam and got to be seated more comfortably with him. 

You held your breath as a clumsy woman strode down the aisle, begging the universe to walk past your row. She didn’t, of course. 

“Hello, you must be my plane buddy!” She said cheerfully as she heaved her carry on into the overhead bin. She was all smiles as she thanked everyone around her.

You offered a weak smile, “Nice to meet you.”

“Well then, I think we’ll be off soon. Do you need a snack, dear?” She settled into the middle seat, having no issue rubbing up against your side as she opened her small backpack to reveal a plethora of food. Up close, you could see the laughter lines around her mouth as she smiled. Gray hairs peaked out of her loose bun, and you guessed she must’ve been in her mid-50’s. 

“Oh, no thank you. I’m okay.”

“Suit yourself. I’m Gloria. We’ve got a long flight ahead of us, best to go ahead and make introductions now.” She held out her hand.

You extended your own and shook hers, offering your name.

“Beautiful name! Well, whereabouts are you headed?” She had turned her entire upper half to be facing you and waited for your answer with what seemed like genuine interest. 

“I’m actually just going to Ireland,” you replied.

“Oh, lovely! Work or pleasure?” She clapped her hands together.

“Work,” you smiled, “How about you?”

“Pleasure, dear. I decided to enjoy the spoils of life while I still can,” she chortled and clasped her hands together on her lap.

“That’s a wonderful thing to do. Have you been to Europe before?” 

“Oh, no. I was a housewife for 35 years,” a sad smile touched her face, “I gave up a lot for my husband and my children. And now, I’m having a chance to reclaim somethings I’ve always wanted to do.”

You perked up at her response, “Oh, I’m so sorry. Is your husband…?” You trailed off, unsure of how to ask.

She nodded in understanding, “He’s fine. Happy as a claim on a beach in Bora Bora with a beautiful young woman.”

“Oh.” You bit your lip as your eyebrows furrowed together. Your heart began to ache.

“Don’t feel bad, dear. I’ve made peace with it. It took months of me wallowing in self-pity to understand that no one would come to my rescue, besides myself.” She patted your knee reassuringly. “Now tell me about your beau.” 

“I don’t--I’m not in a relationship.” You cast your eyes down.

“Oh,” she pursed her lips, “just as well then. It’ll happen eventually. And when it does, you remember that we are the curators of our own happiness. It starts with you.” She squeezed your knee and smiled. 

Before you could formulate a response, the pilot came on over the intercom and announced the flight would be taking off soon.

“Better take a look at this,” she murmured to herself as she pulled out the flight safety manual and began thumbing through it. 

You closed your eyes and leaned back into the headrest as the engines began drowning out Gloria’s quiet ramblings to herself and anyone around.


	25. Rude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You exited the aircraft what seemed like days later. Gloria was busy shaking hands with the pilot and stewardess, so you were able to get lost in the crowd. You felt an eagerness, a desperate urge to be out of the airport. You pulled out your phone to check your messages. Nothing. It wasn’t particularly unusual—the agency wouldn’t waste time calling you after every single flight when they could pay one person to track all of the flights at once. But you thought for sure Adam would have said something. 

You made your way out of baggage claim and found a driver holding a sign with your name on it by the doors. You introduced yourself and were led to the valet area. Your heart skipped a beat as he opened the door for you. You climbed in. The backseat was empty. You sighed in disappointment as he loaded your bags into the trunk. _Don’t be an idiot. He’s probably filming,_ you thought to yourself. You would be glad to get a copy of his itinerary soon. 

It was a long drive to the hotel. You had texted Adam to let him know of your arrival, but were met with no response. Ella hadn’t even replied to you. 

You stared out of the window as you journeyed on, wondering what would await you at the hotel. 

The driver saw you inside with your bags and left you at the front counter. 

You gave the attendant your name as you shuffled with the bags.

“Yes, here is your room key. Oh—your boss? He left this key to his room…” she trailed off in a whisper. It seemed she thought there was a need for discretion. 

Your cheeks burned as you smiled at her, “Thanks. I’m his personal assistant.” 

Her mouth fell into an O-shape as she nodded, “So sorry about that. Have a lovely stay, and let us know if we can do anything for you.” 

You made your way to Adam’s suite right away, not bothering to stop at your room assignment. Your stomach fluttered with anticipation as you opened the door and set your bags down. 

“Adam?” You called out. 

No answer. 

You set the keys down on the entryway table and wandered through the suite. Everything looked to be exactly as you’d left it before. Easel and canvases still by the window. His bed had been made by housekeeping. Fresh towels in the bathrooms. He was certainly not here. You sighed and plopped down on the edge of the bed. Of course he was working. It didn’t make sense for him to be here right now. 

You looked towards the bathroom and felt a strong need for a hot shower. You stripped on the cold tile floors and dragged yourself into the shower stall. The hot water elicited a sigh from your chest as it relaxed your tense muscles. You regarded Adam’s high-end products, noting you’d left your suitcases in the hall. You pulled them down one by one and reveled in the deep, amber scent of his hair and skin. Your hands traveled across your body, leaving behind a trail of suds. You massaged the shampoo and conditioner into your scalp and waited each time under the shower head until the water ran clean. 

You stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around your body, using a smaller one to dry off your hair. Shuffling behind you caused you to jump and whip around, nearly slipping on the wet tile. 

“ _SHIT!_ ” You yelped as you tried to regain your footing. You’d dropped your towel in the process, leaving yourself completely exposed. 

Adam stepped into view, sweat glistening on his forehead and his hair was matted to his skin. He had already pulled his shirt off and was working on his belt as he regarded you. 

“Hey, you’re back.” His voice was casual as he pulled the belt from his pants and unbuttoned his pants, his eyes never leaving your body. 

“Yeah, I just got here half an hour ago,” you said breathlessly as you reached down. 

The towel flew forward out of reach as Adam dragged it with his foot. You looked up at him in confusion as his eyes flickered darkly. You stood up and folded your arms across your chest. 

He kicked the towel further away and took long strides until he was standing directly in front of you. His fingers brushed against your skin, down your arm from your shoulder. You felt instant relief as his skin made contact with your own. He leaned down and tilted your chin up to meet his face. You closed your eyes as his face hovered over yours and waited for him to kiss you. 

But just as suddenly as he had arrived, his hands left you and by the time you opened your eyes, he had retreated to the shower. You looked after him in bewilderment as he stepped into the steam, draping his pants on the shower door and shut it behind him. 

“I told you I would show you ‘rude’.” He said, answering your unspoken question. 

You sighed in frustration, but were slightly amused by his long game and exited the bathroom. Deciding to give him a run for his money, you decided against getting dressed. You laid on your stomach, facing away from the shower on the bed and crossed your ankles in the air, pretending to be completely unphased by his trick and looking at your phone. 

When he exited the bathroom, he didn’t say a word. He must’ve looked you over for a second before approaching you from behind. You wished you could’ve seen his face. His hands gripped your hips, pulling you to your knees. The blanket below you burned your skin slightly as he dragged you backwards towards him. You had dropped your phone near the headboard and your hands were propping yourself up. You daringly looked over your shoulder to flash a smile at a very not-smiling Adam. His face was dark and focused, his mouth turned down at the corners in concentration. He swatted you across the ass sharply, drawing a gasp from your lips. You leaned back on your knees slightly until you felt him press hard and warm against the cheek he’d just reddened. He pushed you forward and slapped the same spot again. You stifled a groan. 

His hand which was holding your hip firmly slowly traveled across your back, and down the center until he grazed the growing dampness between your legs. You sighed as he rubbed his knuckles against you. He pressed in with one finger, the resistance only enticing him more. Two knuckles had vanished inside of your warmth and you felt dizzy with lust, your eyelids fluttered closed and you had adjusted your posture into a downward dog pose, resting on your forearms. His other hand trailed down the curve of your back very slowly as he withdrew and re-entered slowly with his fingers. You moaned delightfully at the sensation. Your hips began moving of their own accord, meeting each of his hands’ small, gentle thrusts to elicit more vigor. 

You thought you heard him chuckle as he pulled away from you for a moment. You pulled yourself up in protest, but his hand came down hard between your shoulder blades, forcing you flat on your chest. The air rushed out of your lungs from surprise as he slammed his hips against yours. He moved in a hurry, one hand pressing you into the mattress which stifled your moans, the other gripping your ass firmly enough to bruise the flushed skin. You reached down between your legs until your fingers met the dampened skin between legs. You squeezed your eyes closed as your fingers massaged circles around your clit, causing your muscles to tighten as Adam thrusted against you. You were so distracted by the oncoming storm you felt swirling in your abdomen, you didn’t notice his hand had traveled closer to your center. His thumb ventured down between the valley of your butt and pressed against the puckered skin. You cringed and tried to pull away, which he must’ve anticipated as the pad of his thumb pressed down harder until he was inside of you there as well. The motion of your hand, his quick and forceful pace, plus the newfound tension from his thumb was dizzying. You groaned as you felt the swell of the storm coming on faster than you’d anticipated. Your walls clamped down around him, the resistance from his size fortified the intensity of your contractions. You heard him curse under his breath as your orgasm triggered his own and his hips ground into you. 

You lay there, breathless as he pulled out of you and placed a kiss on your lower back. Your body felt unhinged in a perfect way. 

“C’mon. I’m hungry.” He said hoarsely as he wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you upright.


	26. Sweat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You sat on an uncomfortable folding chair in the corner of a giant warehouse. It must’ve been two o’clock in the morning, but with sparsely placed skylight windows and giant flood lights illuminating the space, it was hard to tell. You watched through bleary eyes, stifling your fifth-hundredth yawn as the physical trainers and scene directors coached Adam through his movements. His concentration was admirable. His eyes were trained on the director who seemed minuscule compared to Adam’s size and stature. He nodded with each criticism and retraced his steps with the stuntmen. 

When this training session started hours ago, you watched with bated breath as he flung his wooden sword through the air and made contact with the stunt men. The force with which he heaved the prop and powerful way he threw his body around was matched with controlled hits to their own props. You couldn’t imagine the amount of effort it must’ve taken to not hurt the other guys. 

Even from here, you could see the fatigue touch his face. The sweat was clinging to his t-shirt, his hair was matted against his forehead and neck. You leaned forward, elbows on your knees as you watched him. He was repeating each scene with the same amount of dedication and intensity, it made you wonder how his body didn’t give up. His eyes met yours from across the room and he nodded, asking you to come forward. You grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler beside you and a fresh hand towel. As you approached him, your heart trembled. Standing among these actors, directors, and stuntmen he looked gigantic and intimidating. You maneuvered between the bodies on the training floor and extended the water to him. He nodded in thanks and raised it to his lips. You watched as the locks of dark waves fell away from his face as he tilted his head back. He handed back the emptied water bottle and took the towel from your hand and patted his neck and forehead. 

You leaned forward and lowered your voice, “We’re going to leave soon, okay? You have a 10am panel with a 8am expected arrival.”

You were sure for a split second he was going to lean in closer to your face, but he straightened up and cleared his throat, “The sequence isn’t ready yet. I’m going to stay as late as these guys are,” he gestured with his thumb over his shoulder. 

You sighed, biting your bottom lip as you looked around at the tireless men waiting to resume training, “Fine, but you’re not allowed to be an ass tomorrow because you’re tired.” Your eyes darted back to his face.

A smile spread across his face and he laughed--loudly enough to catch the attention of some of the people standing around idly, “No promises.” 

He turned as the director placed a hand on his shoulder and began talking to him, and suddenly it was like you weren’t even there. You retreated back to your seat and rubbed your temples as they re-positioned for the next run through. 

You pulled his small duffel bag over your shoulder as the director dismissed all of the cast and crew for the night and gave them each notes. You stood by the door, phone raised to your ear as you spoke to the driver. A large, warm hand engulfed your shoulder which caused you to jump slightly. 

“Oh--Adam,” you stuttered, catching the attention of the driver, “yes, I’m still here, we’ll be waiting outside in a moment. Thank you.” You clicked off of the phone call and looked up at him, your eyes lingering on his hand which was still resting on your shoulder.

“What is it?” You finally asked.

He shrugged and dropped his hand, “Are we ready to go?” 

You nodded as you eyed him suspiciously and looked around to see if anyone had caught the interaction. As far as you could tell, no one was watching. You opened the door and led him outside to find his car. 

With no street lights to shine in through the tinted windows, your ride back to the hotel was mostly pitch-black besides the screen of your phone. The warmth and darkness lulled you into drifting off, but you did your best to resist. 

“Tomorrow isn’t going to take very long,” you began quietly, “you are scheduled to be out by 3pm. That includes the fan meet-and-greet.” 

Adam leaned forward just as you passed under a lonely street lamp, his eyes sparkling against his pale skin, “I don’t have anything scheduled for the next day, right?” 

You nodded, “Mhm.”

“Keep it that way. I want to go to the coast,” he replied, leaning back against his seat. 

“Okay. Do I need to arrange anything?” You asked, crossing your legs.

“Yes,” he said simply. “I’d like an overnight room.” 

You pulled out your phone, “Where exactly--” 

His hands pulled the device from your hand, the screen illuminated his face which was concentrating away as he typed, “This one.” 

You crouched in the backseat of the limo and crossed the cabin to the bench he sat on. He didn’t look up as he continued scrolling, so you took the opportunity to push his arms apart and climb onto his inviting lap. He absentmindedly supported the small of your back with his hand as he looked up at you, holding the phone screen up for you to see.

“I want to go there,” he said quietly as he looked up at you through his lashes. 

You took the phone in both hands, giving him the freedom to pull your body closer to him and nudge your arms apart with his nose so he could bury his face into your chest. He sighed into the valley of your breasts as you copied the necessary information to send for verification to the agency. You smiled as you felt his lips press into your shirt. You could smell the mixture of sweat and shampoo in his hair as you tossed your phone onto the seat beside you and pushed the dark strands away from his forehead. He tilted his head back, his chin still firmly pressed against your cleavage as he met your eyes. 

“You stink,” you said, crinkling your nose and fighting back a giggle.

He shook his head in response, as if to spread the smell of his sweat more. His hand squeezed your thigh as your palms stilled his face, pressed to his cheeks. His mouth twitched as you leaned down and pressed your lips to his, still cupping his face. His eyes closed in response and his lips moved against yours with fervor. You sighed, trying to remain as quiet as possible, knowing that a small pane of glass separated you from the driver. You pulled away and ran your fingers through his hair again. 

You slid off of his lap and nestled against his side comfortably, stifling a yawn. It was at least 3:30am at this point. Adam began rambling excitedly about the scene they had worked on today, explaining in great detail how the CGI and editing team would make it convincing and believable, even though it would be shot in an area much like the warehouse you were in today. Somehow he got off on a tangent about post-production of movies you had honestly never watched but were considered cult classics that he clearly adored. You smiled and fought the laziness of your heavy eyelids, refusing to let them close. 

He nudged your arm and whispered your name in your ear, “we’re back.” 

You sat up quickly, not understanding how you had returned so fast. You had dozed off, the stiffness in your body made that obvious. You could see the door opened to your right, and Adam crouched before you, his hand bracing himself against your knee. You nodded and collected your belongings as you exited the car. The air outside was chilly, you tightly hugged your chest as you hurried after Adam into the lobby. You nodded at the staff, maintaining a comfortable distance from Adam in front of them. When you both entered the private elevator you stood close enough to him to feel warmth rolling off of him. His hand found the small of your back and encouraged you to take a step closer to him. You were pressed up against his side, your head leaning against his chest. 

The doors opened and you followed Adam to the end of the hall. The bodyguard posted outside of his door nodded as you dismissed him for the rest of the evening and entered the suite. He went straight for the bathroom, just as you had expected him to. You pulled off your shoes clumsily by the entryway and stumbled into the bedroom, falling onto the bed without a single attempt to undress and put on pajamas. You were roused from a light sleep as Adam tugged on your pants, attempting to get them past your hips. You groaned and turned to the side, feeling too exhausted to satisfy his insatiable sexual appetite.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he responded quietly, “Lift.” 

You obeyed, lifting your hips and allowing him to pull the fabric all the way down your ankles. You brought your knees to your chest in response to the loss of warmth and tried to go back to sleep. 

Adam’s hands slid under your back and worked on the clasp of your bra. You pushed against his chest in weak protest, just wishing he’d let you go back to sleep. He muttered under his breath something unintelligible and pulled a hand away from your back to slide the straps off of your arms and pull the bra out from under your shirt. His hand dropped below your knees and scooped you up so he could carry you to the top of the bed and pull the blankets back to tuck you in. You pulled the duvet close, vaguely aware of his weight causing the bed to shift around you as he climbed in behind you. Every part of him molded around your fetal position as his arm snaked around your waist and held your back close against his chest.

“Did you set an alarm?” he spoke softly into your ear.

“Of course I did,” you mumbled in response.

He chuckled softly and pressed a kiss into your hair as you drifted back into a peaceful slumber.


	27. Whatever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been thinking about this GIF a lot...clearly.  
> (Also yesterday I added GIFs to most of the chapters if you didn't know!)

Adam leaned against the wall, with his arms folded across his chest, mimicking your own stance. You were in a stand-off with him, and he wasn’t budging. You sighed, exasperated by his stubbornness.

“It’s not my decision, and you know that, it’s out of my control.” You repeated.

“It’s an hour-and-a-half fucking drive, I don’t see why it’s out of the question to rent a car and drive ourselves. And two bodyguards? For an overnight trip?” He scoffed, shaking his head, “Get them on the phone.”

You muttered under your breath as you dialed the agency. Gloria answered with curiosity in her voice, your name fell from her lips carefully.

“Is everything okay?” 

You cleared your throat, “Yes, Gloria. Actually--” 

The phone was pulled from your hands as Adam strode past you, raising it to his ear, “Gloria, this is Adam. Hi, I requested an overnight excursion for my day off tomorrow and I’ve been informed by my assistant that I would not be permitted a rental car for the small trip and it was insisted that two bodyguards join us.”

The irritation dripped from his cold voice as you rubbed your temples. You were positive that you’d get an earful after this phone call ended, from either or both of them. 

After a moment, he replied, “Yes, I completely understand. And I’m sure you can understand where I’m coming from. Look, it’s an overnight trip. It’s an hour out of the way. Nothing is going to happen, I don’t even intend to be in the public eye for more than a quiet dinner. Not that anyone would care.” 

You looked up at him, your face still slightly covered by your hands. He was pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes shut. After a moment of listening, his eyes opened again. 

“Mm. Thank you, I think that’ll work out just fine. Yes, thank you.” He pulled the phone away from his face and tossed it onto the couch beside you.

“Satisfied?” You asked mockingly. 

His expression was unamused as he turned to the security detail that had been standing like fixtures near the door the entire time, “Check your emails, please. One of you is dismissed for the evening.”

They nodded, expressionless and pulled out their cell phones simultaneously. 

Adam turned back to you, “You should have communications as well.” 

“I’ll bet I do,” you muttered as you reached for your phone. 

A car had been requested at a rental company nearby, and would be dropped off shortly in the back entrance/parking deck of the hotel. Your boss didn’t leave any comments on the order confirmation. You had expected some kind of negative feedback given that Adam had basically just gone above your head. You set your phone down and stood up, stretching your arms above your head. 

Adam tossed a small duffel bag onto the sofa behind you and brushed past you to grab his wallet from the coffee table. 

“Are you ready?” He asked, his eyebrows raised.

You nodded, reaching for the bag. His hand reached around the front of you and grabbed it before you had the chance.

You frowned, “You know if pictures like this get out people are going to say I’m bad at my job.” 

He shrugged, “Or they’d call me a pussy for not carrying my own overnight bag.” 

You smiled a little and followed as he moved towards the door. One of the security had already dismissed himself so the three of you made your way down to the lobby and out the back door into the cool, dark parking deck. A black SUV had been valeted already and a young man approached you with papers to be signed. You offered your driver’s license, Adam followed suit, and presented the company card to verify the purchase. Within three minutes your bags were in the car, Adam took the drivers’ side and you found yourself climbing into the passenger seat. The bodyguard quietly settled into the backseat. You watched as Adam made adjustments to the vehicle’s mirrors and GPS, and then he turned to you.

“Ready?” He asked.

You nodded, “Yep.” 

A smile spread across his face as he threw the car into drive and pulled away from the parking deck. After a few moments of driving, having settled into a comfortable silence, you stole a glance at Adam. His profile was strikingly beautiful. His posture was relaxed, his left leg bent at the knee and his large hand resting there while the over was draped across the steering wheel. His eyes had been focused on the road, until he sensed you looking at him. They flickered over to your face as you marveled at his cheekbones and the freckles that decorated them. When you found his eyes watching you, you immediately faced forward, feeling your cheeks burn. You reached for the radio controls and turned to a clear station to fill the silence and leaned back in your seat, choosing to face the window. 

You arrived at the hotel just as the sun began to settle on the horizon. The owner first showed the expansive grounds, rose bushes that were reached above your head formed a garden maze. The hotel resembled a castle,and the owner was keen to boast the many weddings they host. She led you to Adam’s room, a grand suite soaked in beige and dark wooden furniture. The bathroom was all mahogany and black tile with an oversized soaking tub against one mirrored wall. After she was finished with her tour, she handed you two other sets of keys--your’s and the bodyguard’s. She insisted Adam allow her to send up room service, and with a glance in Adam’s direction, you knew the answer would be yes. He was always hungry, You shook her hand and thanked her.

You wandered through the suite after dinner. You’d dismissed the security guard for the evening after dinner. Each room carried the faint smell of citrus and clove. Adam was seated at a writing desk in the living room, alternating between thumbing through a _Local Interests_ pamphlet and looking through the window which oversaw the sweeping grounds and gardens.

You decided on revisiting the bathroom. The massive bathtub seemed to call your name as you slipped out of your clothes and pulled your arms through a fluffy white robe. Perched on the edge of the tub, you poured in some unnamed complimentary bath soak the hotel left while you waited for hot water to fill the basin. A mixture of freesia and lillies filled your nose as the liquid produced bubbles. Fog clung to the mirror that stretched from floor to ceiling beside you as the water level rose. You leaned in to test the waters’ temperature with your fingers. It was perfectly warm and inviting. You shrugged out of the robe and hung it on a hook. 

“Can I come in?” 

You jumped slightly, having not heard Adam nearing you over the roar of the faucet. You looked over your shoulder and found dark, smouldering hazel eyes falling slowly down your naked body. You felt every inch of skin burning as his eyes looked you over. He didn’t make any attempt at discretion as his eyes lingered on your backside a second too long. 

“Okay,” you managed to get out. You leaned against a wall, your arms folded across your chest as he undressed, his eyes glued to yours, and his full lips slightly parted. 

You climbed into the tub from opposite ends so that you were facing each other. Adam’s legs were splayed out against the walls of the tub, his knees peeked out of the water. You held your knees up to your chest as the warm water calmed your racing heart. You may never grow tired of looking at him while he studied your features.He had tucked the hair on one side of his face behind his ear. The ends were dampened and dripped onto his shoulders. 

“Where do you want to go tomorrow?” You finally asked, breaking the silence. 

His eyes didn’t waiver in their hold on you, “There’s a beach. It’s beautiful. I saw it the last time I was here for filming.” 

“Oh, I didn’t realize you’d been here before,” you said quietly, dropping your gaze to the bubbles offering you a curtain of modesty. Your hands pushed and pulled them apart.

“I have.” He confirmed. 

“Did you bring someone else here?” You asked, trying hard to make it seem like casual conversation, but there was no denying the quiver in your voice.

“Ella was here, if that’s what you’re asking,” he said quietly, reaching out to grasp one of your ankles and pull it gently until your leg was fully extended and your heel rested on his chest. 

“It’s not.” You replied simply, “Unless you slept with her.”

He grimaced and turned his face to the side, "No. She wasn't in this room."

"You were in this same room?" your hands fell into the water, causing a small splash. 

“No, I didn’t bring anyone _romantically_.” He answered, making a point to emphasize the last word. His head fell back against his shoulders as he let out a huff of irritation.

You fought the smile that crept onto your face, “Good.”

“What, are you jealous now?” He said, scowling as he turned to face you again, “I _have_ slept with people, you know.”

“I know,” you narrowed your eyes at him, “ and so have I for that matter." You watched as his eye twitched from your jab. It was almost too fun to see him be secretly jealous. 

"I just don’t want to be a repeat.” 

“A repeat what?”

Your breath hitched in your throat as you struggled to find the words.

“A repeat...whatever-this-is.” You finally managed to say.

“Hmm.” He leaned back against the tub and traced shapes from the top of your foot to your ankle with his forefinger. 

You felt so scared to hear his answer to a question that was burning inside of you. Your pulse quickened as you leaned forward, drawing your foot back and kneeling in front of him. His eyes fell to the swells of your breast that emerged from the water as you carefully pushed his legs until you could wedge your knees between the walls of the tub and his hips. Water splashed up the sides of the tub and dripped onto the floor with your movements. His hands steadied you by splaying out at the small of your back as you perched yourself on his lap. Yours rested against his firm chest. He looked up at you through his lashes as the water settled around your bodies.

“I want to know what you consider...whatever-this-is...to be,” you said softly as you lifted a hand from his chest to tuck his hair behind his other ear. 

He exhaled sharply through his nose, “I already told you that I like you. We’re...seeing each other. Right?” He cocked his head to one side.

“Are we seeing other people too?” you asked.

He scoffed, “That would be very easy for you to determine. You’ve basically lived with me for the past three months. I--I told you to move your fucking bags into my room. What do you think?” 

You tried to ignore the derision in his voice, “I know the current circumstances, Adam. I just need an answer about where you stand with me--you know, after this movie--and where I stand with you.” 

“You tell me. Where do _you_ stand with me?”

You swallowed back a hard lump of anxiety in your throat and steeled yourself. He was going to make you say it first. 

“I don’t intend on seeing anyone else when this wraps. If that is what you want also.” You said softly and pursed your lips.

“Okay. That sounds good to me.” He said, his eyebrows raised as he nodded.

You sighed and relaxed the tension in your back and shoulders. His hands moved slowly up your back and brought warm water up with them that trickled down your cool skin. 

“Are you okay?” He asked after regarding you chewing your lip.

You looked down at him and released the tension in your mouth, “Yes. How could I not be?”


	28. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Me getting excited when I see I have new comments in my inbox, also preparing myself for potential criticism, but ultimately seeing you guys be so sweet to me.


	29. Author's Note

I am sorry I haven't updated you, I am at a loss for this chapter and have scrapped it twice now. I promise I'm working on it!


	30. Change

You sat down on the edge of the bed, combing your fingers through your hair as Adam commenced another vicious attack via toothbrush on his teeth. You smiled to yourself, remembering where a confrontation about his...intense dental hygiene practices...had landed you last time. Your fingers skirted across your lips and throat as you remembered the bruises he’d left. 

A yawn escaped your mouth as you shrugged out of the robe and pulled on a t-shirt and underwear. You quietly turned down the quilt and sheets of the bed and waited for Adam to come out of the bathroom. When he entered the room, he was in only black briefs that stopped mid-muscular-thigh. He looked you over as he climbed into the bed and extended his hand out to you. 

“What are you doing? C’mon,” he said impatiently as he motioned you forward.

You climbed onto the abnormally fluffy pillow top and scooted in until your back was pressed against Adam’s warm chest. Even through the material of your shirt, you could feel the heat radiate off of him. His arm snaked around your body and clutched you to him.

“Goodnight,” he said softly into your hair. 

*

You spent the late morning waiting at a cafe while Adam jogged around a nearby trail. The security guard had followed him of course, leaving you to enjoy the quiet scenery as the sun rose. You watched as he appeared out of the trail and jogged across the street. He looked like a scene out of a movie as bounced towards you. He swiftly pulled out the chair across from you and plopped down, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. 

“Did you enjoy your run?” You asked as you chewed on a flaky croissant. 

“Yeah.” he exhaled as he searched the remnants of your plate, picking up a half-eaten almond pastry and bringing it to his lips. 

You eyed him as he brazenly picked up your coffee and took a long sip. 

His lip curled as he stuck his tongue out and made a noise of disgust, “Too sweet.” 

“I’m sorry that _my_ coffee doesn’t suit your taste,” You said sarcastically as you wiped the crumbs off of your hands onto the plate and took the coffee from his hands. 

He shuddered again, quite dramatically you noted, and stood up, “Ready to go?” 

You nodded and polished off your ‘too-sweet’ coffee. 

You were grateful for the day off--a day away from responsibilities, and from judgemental stares. Much of your time as an assistant was spent in the public eye, trailing behind whoever it was you were assigned to. Having been able to blend into your surroundings felt like an accomplishment and a relief, no one had ever really paid you much mind. No scrutiny had been placed upon you thus far, but would it change? Would you have to perfect remaining in Adam’s shadow, or would you have to face public opinion at his side? There was a third option of course, that this fling may blow over before it ever gets out. Your stomach turned at the thought. The sea breeze would brush against your face occasionally, comforting you and centering you. The change to come would simply have to be embraced.

*

You notified the agency the next morning of your departure from Cork County with Adam. You climbed into the car before the sun had risen and the next time you opened your eyes, you were pulling into the parking garage of the hotel. After a couple of hours settling back in, it was time to go back to work. You led Adam through the sound stages until you found the other cast and crew. 

You found a quiet place to sit amongst other handlers and assistants while Adam went to hair and makeup. You were just about to make a b-line for the snack table when two small hands squeezed your shoulders. 

“Hey!” Ella squealed in your ear. 

“Hey,” you said warmly, “how are you, Ella?” 

“I’m great! Didn’t see you yesterday—were you in PT?” She asked as she took a seat beside you. 

“Oh no—Adam didn’t have any scenes scheduled yesterday, so I was off.” 

“Lucky! I’m sure you had fun,” she nudged you with her elbow and smiled slyly, “have you packed already?” 

You turned to look at her, “Packed for what?” 

She pulled out her phone from her bag and pulled up an email, leaning in to show you, “they’re moving production—you didn’t see this?” 

“What?” You read over the words on the screen quickly. She was right, production had been moved permanently. They had finalized new sound stages in the next location and were setting up early. 

“Mexico?” 

She nodded eagerly, “Mexico, baby!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What day is it? Who even am I? This took so long to write—I don’t even know why. I have a plan for a new story forming and I’ve been having a hard time not focusing on that. Multitasking :/


	31. Dark

When you touched down in Mexico, the warmth felt revitalizing. You stood there at curbside pickup for a few moments with your face turned up to absorb all of the energy. The car took you to a stunning villa on a hilltop. You double-checked the address to what was listed in your itenary. It was the same. _Not a hotel,_ you thought. You and the security met the rental agent at the front door and did a walk through while Adam waited in the car. It was a 5 bedroom home with an exceptional interior and multiple oversized windows that flooded the home with sunlight. 

You led Adam through the home after a brief handshake with the property owner and noted the two rooms in the front of the house that security would occupy. 

“Was this part of your requests?” You asked as you stood in the kitchen. 

“Yeah. I had Ella set it up,” he shrugged. 

“I didn’t know. I mean, it makes sense. You’ll be here for a couple of months,” you said, looking around. 

He nodded and inspected the refrigerator, which of course was empty. 

“Make a list and I’ll run out to the shops,” you said and turned to the body guards, “and you as well.” 

All three men nodded silently. You took the opportunity to take your bags upstairs. You set down your belongings in one of the two smaller rooms. Adam had silently crept into the room behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist. _How can such a big man move so quietly, _you wondered as you grasped his forearms. He pulled your back to his chest and rested his chin on the top of your head.__

__“This isn’t my room.” He said after a moment._ _

__“And those aren’t your bags.” You replied._ _

__“Your bags should be with mine.”_ _

__“It’ll look more believable this way,” you shrugged._ _

__He pulled you closer and leaned down so his lips were brushing your ear, “I don’t know why you care.”_ _

__You grimaced and pulled away from his mouth as he nibbled your earlobe._ _

__“What?” He asked, releasing you from his hold._ _

__You bit your bottom lip and shook your head, “Nothing. We’ll leave the bags here, okay?”_ _

__He searched your face for a moment, “Okay.”_ _

__Adam and the security were being taken by the local driver to the compound which hosted the sound stages, offices, and private gym while you called a car to take you to the grocery store. It wasn’t ideal, but having had traveled all day, you knew there would be very hungry men in your presence soon. You waved back as they pulled off in a different direction, knowing the compound was close by and this was merely an introduction. They would probably arrive back at the house before you did._ _

__The cab driver was silent as he took you to the grocery store. You knew he spoke English, since this was a company the agency had hired, but got the sense that he didn’t care for conversation. You were only 20 minutes away by a well populated and touristy city, which was just perfect by your standards. Not too much in the public eye, not too far out into the country._ _

__He pulled into the parking lot and you hesitated with one foot outside of the car, “You’ll wait, right? I’ll be back in 30 minutes.”_ _

__He didn’t look at you, simply nodded one time with his eyes trained forward. You bit your bottom lip and shut the door. You tried your best to refrain from looking back to make sure the car wasn’t driving away. When you did glance back, it sat, idling away._ _

__You strolled the aisles, picking up all the things you could think of to stock an empty home plus the individual requests. Adam, as it turns out, eats a lot of chicken. You felt like you might be stocking up for the apocalypse as you approached the counter and began unloading your cart which was stuffed to the brim. An eerie feeling of eyes on you followed you throughout the store. You had already looked around multiple times merely to find fellow shoppers going about their day. You shook it off and convinced yourself that it was merely the effect of being an outsider in a different country. You hurried out to the parking lot after paying and bagging your goods, trying your best to brave the Southern Hemisphere heat and humidity._ _

__You sighed in relief as you found the car sitting right where you left it. The driver exited, and for the first time you saw his face straight on. His skin was tanned. His mouth seemed to rest in a comfortable scowl. A few faded scars stretched across his cheeks and eyebrow. You froze as you took in his gruff demeanor. He strode towards you, his expression unwavering. You watched him as he took the bags from the cart and began loading them into the trunk._ _

__Shame washed over your body as you realized you had judged his appearance and made assumptions about his intentions. You shook it off and quickly helped him to load the rest of the bags so you could go hide in the backseat and hope the flush would leave your cheeks before you got back to the house._ _

__The silent driver kept up his facade the whole way back. You were so eager to get out of the car and uncomfortable silence that hung heavily around him, you hadn’t even noticed all of the lights were off in the house as you quickly grabbed as many bags as you could carry._ _

__You were up to your elbows in groceries as you ascended the steps to the front door. You looked up and realized not even the porch light was on. Complete darkness swelled inside the home as you turned the knob of the front door. Darkness, and silence. You wavered at the doorway, your feet unwilling to step inside. _I didn’t leave it this way,_ was the thought stuck on loop in your head. _ _

__You could feel a change in the air around you as a floorboard creaked. Panic was ebbing and flowing in your stomach like a tormented sea. Your eyes were strained as you looked inside, but could see nothing. Another sound. Quiet whispers and rustling, something pressed firmly to your mouth, and then suddenly...darkness._ _

___“What will you do now…”_ _ _

___”—just let me fucking think, do you mind?”_ _ _

___“—not even a fucking ring on her finger.No cash, nothing!”_ _ _

__You clenched your eyes shut under a makeshift blindfold as you attempted to make sense of the unfamiliar voices and restraints around your ankles and wrists. Your arms were pulled taught behind your back as you sat in a wooden chair. Your heart pounded weakly in your chest. _The fucking driver, I knew it…__ _

___“—should just leave her here and get the fuck out.”_ _ _

___“You’re a fucking idiot—we do that, we’re done for. We don’t know when the others will be back. The cops will be here faster than we can run.”_ _ _

__You flinched as you heard feet shuffling and felt the floorboards beneath you vibrate._ _

__“She’s awake.”_ _


	32. Run

“I—I don’t want any trouble. I am here on business, I can give you my company credit c—card,” you stammered. Your pleading was met with what sounded like scoffs and snickers. _Shit, they didn’t train me for this._

“My personal card is in my wallet, too. I will tell you my PIN. I don’t have anything valuable—I’m sorry, I promise I’m not lying,” your voice broke as hot tears fell down your cheeks, “I’m not fucking lying. I’m an assistant, okay? I—“ 

“—Shut up.” 

You clamped your mouth shut as the words hung in the air. You could feel your core trembling and blinked against the blindfold nervously. 

“Here’s what you’re going to do,” the deep and gruff voice began. You begged your heart to beat quieter so you didn’t miss his instructions. 

“You’re going to listen to me, and do everything I say, when I say it. If you can agree to that, I let you live.” You could feel him approaching with each pause until his breath was in your ear. 

“I just want the money, but I will take whatever else I need to,” he dropped his voice to a low growl as his fingertips grazed your collarbone. 

You shivered and convulsed involuntarily at his malicious touch, but nodded your head in agreement, “Okay.” 

His presence retreated, “Good. Now, when will the others be back?” 

You swallowed back the lump in your throat, “I—I don’t know. I thought they would already be here—“

_“—shit, we should get out of—“_

“Get her phone.” 

Your hair was suddenly pulled back, drawing a Yelp from your throat as you strained against the back of the chair.

“You’re going to call them and repeat exactly what I say. Do you know what will happen if you fuck up?” 

You didn’t need to answer. The unshakeningly obvious mouth of a cold, metal barrel pressed against your throat and you bit your lip as more tears fell from your eyes. 

“How many?” 

You stammered as you tried to process the question, “Wh—what?” 

You heard the metal smack your jaw and then felt the hot, stinging pain as it left. You cried out and get your legs shaking in response to the pain that radiated from your face. 

“How many are coming back?” The voice was basically dripping with malice and hatred. 

“Three! Just—there’s two security guards and my boss—they didn’t take a driver. Please don’t hurt them, they’ll give you whatever you want—” you managed to answer between your sobs. 

“What’s his name?” 

“Adam,” you whispered his name and held back the urge to vomit as you considered what might happen to him next. 

“Here’s your only chance, princess. Be convincing. You’re going to ask what time he’ll be back.” 

You nodded as your phone was dropped into your lap, it began ringing on speakerphone. 

_Ring….ring….ring…._

“Hey.” 

You took in a deep breath as his voice rang in your head. The hand on your hair clenched tighter. 

“Adam,” you began, testing out the strength of your voice, “hey, it’s me. I—I just got back. Um, where are you? I thought you’d be here already,” you said somewhat convincingly. 

“Tour went a little long, we’re driving back right now.” You could hear a turn signal in the background. 

“Oh...good,” you breathed as the cold metal found your jaw again you quickly rushed to the question you were meant to ask, “can you tell me how far away you are please?” 

There was a pause on his end that had your pulse quickening and your breath hitched in your throat.

“Ten minutes or so.” He finally said. His voice was even and calm. You sighed quietly in relief. 

The blindfold was yanked from your eyes and you blinked against the brightness of the room. You found the cell phone in front of your face and the faces of your captors standing in front of you. Your brain was working so frantically in overdrive and your eyes struggled to focus in the light, you had trouble seeing their features. 

The hand holding the phone put the call on mute. The voice belonging to the guy you presumed to be in charge began speaking. 

“Now say goodbye.” He held a finger to his lips while his thumb unmuted the call. 

You held back the urge to sniffle, “Okay, great. I’m just in the kitchen...I’ll see you when you get here. Bye, Adam,” you tried your best to sound cheerful, but secretly hoped he might see through it. 

“Bye—“ his beautiful, harmonious voice saying your name was cut short by your captor ending the phone call. 

Feet shuffled behind you and a flurry of motion distracted you as the lights went out and the blindfold was placed over your eyes again. Something soft was stuffed into your throat and you felt a gag being tied aggressively around your head, ripping at your hair. It didn’t matter that you were sobbing. The noise was so muffled that no one would hear you. Your head was pounding along with your heart as they spoke around you. 

“Now, get into place. Just like we planned,” the leader said. 

“We can still back out, Davis—“ 

“What the _fuck_ are you bitching about?” 

“There’s security. What if they got guns—“

The sound of metal meeting bone followed before the less confident captor could finish his sentence. He grunted and exhaled sharply through his nose. It reminded you of the dull throbbing in your own jaw. 

“Lights out. Leave this one on.” The one they called Davis finally said. 

No one questioned him. You heard two sets of footsteps retreating through the house. You held your breath, wondering what would happen to you now. You wondered which one of them was the cab driver. 

Hot breath tickled your neck and raised the hairs on your skin in alarm, “You do as I say, remember? No sound. I’m right behind you.” 

You nodded, a small cry stuck in your throat as you heard his footsteps retreat to the back wall. 

“One of you assholes go get the car ready. Wait for my signal!” 

You waited with bated breath. Besides your pounding heart, the house was completely silent. You dared not to test the strength of your restraints in case Davis had eyes on you from wherever he was hiding. You knew he had a gun. Your thoughts were scattered as you considered all the ways this could turn out. Your lip trembled at the thought. 

The quiet sound of tires rolling onto gravel caused your heart to fall into your stomach. You could taste the bile bubbling up from your esophagus as panic rose in your core. The distinct sound of three car doors shutting drove the cracks deeper into your heart, threatening to shatter it inside your very chest. 

No one inside the house moved. There was no ambient noise to drown out the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs, or the doorknob being turned. 

You could feel the air shift around you as Davis quietly moved forward towards the front door. 

“RUN!!!!!” 

You were startled by the break in silence. It seemed to echo all around you. The muffled cry escaped your throat before you even knew it was happening. You used all of the air inside of your lungs, praying to all of the gods and karmic judges of the universe that the sound you made carried through the house and down the street to the city. Maybe even all the way back to Los Angeles. 

The next thing you heard was a gunshot. The sound of your scream fell from your mouth and silence followed. You were blinded still. Gagged. Bound. You could feel all of your limbs. Not the warmth or pain you imagined would follow being shot. You moaned against the gag in agony, wondering if this meant someone else had been shot. Surely Adam was not the first to enter. He couldn’t have been. 

You felt dizzy. All of the anxiety building up in your body over the past...however long you had been here, had exhausted you. You let your head hang forward, feeling too tired and defeated to hold it up. Someone would be back to shoot you soon anyway. Your body had no fight left in it. 

“In here,” a new voice said. It carried a slight accent that you didn’t recognize. 

For the briefest moment before your hands and feet were cut free and you were lifted from the chair, feeling absolutely certain your fate had been sealed, you thought you caught a whiff of Adam’s familiar scent.


	33. Sun

You opened your eyes in the back of a darkened car. You were leaning against something hard and muscular and immediately felt panic wrack through your body, sending you flying forward from the seat. 

Large hands grasped your waist and shoulder gently while you gasped and tried to recall how you got into this car. 

“It’s me, you’re okay. Hey, look.” The voice belonging to the man beside you echoed in your head. 

It took a few seconds for the words to be translated into understanding for you, but when they did you turned to see Adam. 

Your hands patted along his torso and arms, all the way up to his perfect face that was illuminated by the overhead light he’d turned on for you. 

“Adam—you’re okay. What the f—“ 

His expression was pained as he raised a palm to rest against your cheek, stopping you in your tracks. 

“Lay back down, okay?” His voice was lowered and soothing. 

You nodded, wincing as your swollen jaw moved against his hand. You scooted back down and let your head fall into his lap. You stared up at him as the lights the car passed by illuminated his face for brief seconds. His mouth was drawn tight and tense. He looked down at you, and his fair fell to the sides of his face, obscuring some of the details. 

“We’re taking you to the hospital first and then getting on a flight back to the States immediately.” His voice was still soft and gentle as he spoke and gently brushed your hair away from your face. 

“I’m fine, Adam—we can’t leave, can we? What about filming?” You instinctively tried to sit up and reach for your cellphone, despite not actually knowing where it had ended up during the break-in. 

“Please, dont.” He asked gently as his hand pressed so lightly into your shoulder. 

You realized he was being careful touching you because he didn’t know the extent of your injuries. You bit your lip and relaxed again. 

“Why aren’t we in an ambulance? Who is driving?” You asked after a moment. 

“We didn’t know how many were in the house with you. When the cab driver called—“

 _”The cab driver?_ The cab driver that took me to the store?” You fought the urge to sit up again. Adam noticed and gave you a stern look of disapproval. 

“Yeah, your cab driver. He saw someone moving in the bushes and drove out of sight to report it. He was waiting around the corner for the cops to show up.” 

You felt your jaw agape, completely dumbfounded to learn the driver who gave you the creeps was not involved in your capture.

“He called the agency which got investigators involved, who in turn got in touch with me. They asked us to stay where we were but I couldn’t do that…” he trailed off as he looked down at you. You didn’t know if it was the dimly lit cabin or if he had actual tears in his eyes, but they were certainly glistening. 

“I didn’t believe it at first. When I heard you on the phone I knew I had to get back to you.” 

“I can’t believe security brought you back,” you tried to make sense of how they could break protocol that way. Surely they would’ve been fired. 

“They didn’t. I might’ve...taken the car by force.” He said, rubbing his temple. 

“Adam!” You sat up quickly, feeling a little dizzy but too infuriated by his recklessness to care. 

He exhaled sharply and gave you a look which told you he was growing frustrated with your lack of respect for his one request. You raised your palms in apology and laid back down slowly. This time he deliberately draped his arm over your chest. 

“The cops got there at the same time as me. One was undercover in a hoodie to hopefully make it inside and incapacitate them. Everything happened pretty fast. You made the _stupid_ decision to scream. They realized they were surrounded and made a run for it. Lucky bastards had someone waiting behind the house and managed to get away. One of the patrol cars went right after them,” he paused and shook his head, “I don’t know what’s happened to them since, but when I heard the gunshot I busted through the front door. I thought you had gotten yourself fucking shot.” 

You felt the tears welling up and spilling over the sides of your face. 

“I thought they’d shot you.” You whispered, your voice breaking. 

His hand rose to your cheek and gently thumbed away the tears, “Yeah, I bet. I….can’t even find words to describe how sorry I am.” 

His expression looked more in pain than you ever recalled seeing him. He looked to be on the brink of tears. You were sure they’d fall onto your face any second. 

“We’re here.” He said after a second. You didn’t realize the car had stopped. The door opened and fluorescent light from the ER lobby shined into the car. You sat up meekly and allowed Adam to slide out from under you. He stood aside while the nurses congregated around you and all spoke at the same time, trying to get you to be still. You were pulled from the vehicle despite your protests and offers to walk, and placed on a stretcher. You looked back and briefly heard one of the nurses scorning Adam for not waiting on an ambulance. His eyes were focused on you, he didn’t even seem to hear her. 

Inside your private room, a doctor gave you a thorough examination and questioning. Once you had reaffirmed that your only injury was the swollen jaw, he finally backed off and allowed Adam to join you in the room. 

“I’m really fine we should just go—“

He raised his hand to stop you. You huffed, unable to fight the urge to roll your eyes. 

“Can I have my phone at least?” 

“No.” He said, his arms crossed tightly against his chest. 

“I need to—“ 

“—No, you don’t need to do shit, okay?” He shot back so quickly you recoiled against your hospital bed.

The reaction didn’t go unnoticed, and he took a deep breath before continuing, “You aren’t going to contact anyone from the agency yet. You were just held hostage, okay? We need to get you back safely first. You don’t need to do a _job_ right now.” 

“Okay. I’m sorry,” you said softly. 

His hand found your knee and squeezed it softly, “You had me really fucking scared, you know?”

You looked up to meet his eyes just as the doctor reentered the room. Adam let his hand fall away and moved to the corner of the room. He was too big to be unnoticeable, but at least he tried. 

“Okay, well. You have a mild concussion and obvious bruising to your jaw. Some burst blood vessels. Not unsurprising for what you endured this evening. You will take these for pain,” he pressed a pill bottle into your hand, “and ice your jaw for swelling. You are safe to travel.” 

You nodded and turned over the bottle in your hand. The capsules inside rattled. 

“Thank you.” You said, offering a weak smile. 

He nodded, and laid down an envelope on the counter beside you. “These are your discharge notes. When you get back to your resident doctor, you should take that with you.” 

You nodded, picking up the envelope and tucking it under your arm. 

The doctor lingered at the door for a second, “You should take one of those before you get on the plane. You need to rest.”

“Okay.” You turned to Adam who was tucked into the corner of the room with his head down. 

You heard the door click shut and sat up. You’d managed to get your feet on the floor when Adam’s arm found its way to the small of your back while his other hand cradled your face to his chest. You could feel the steady beat of his heart through his shirt and smelled that same scent he always carried. You closed your eyes and hooked your hands together behind his back. Exhaustion was seeping into your bones and mind, and you wanted nothing more than to be able to lie down. After a moment, you pulled away from him and looked up towards his face. His face was turned down to find yours, ready to plant a kiss on your forehead. 

“Can I go back home now, please?” You asked softly. 

He released his hold on you and extended a hand forward for you to walk towards the door. He kept a protective hand on the small of your back the entire way back to the car, guiding you through the halls and doors. The thought of paparazzi briefly crossed your mind, but was gone instantly when you stepped outside into a chilling darkness again. You felt your breath hitch in your throat as your mind replayed what had happened just hours ago. 

“The car is right here,” he said quietly as he pulled you to his side and stepped forward. 

You let out a shaky breath as you found your way into the backseat. 

“Did you get everything?” He asked, peering through the partition to the security in the front seat. 

“Most of it, sir. We made sure to get both passports. The rest of the luggage will follow,” a deep monotonous voice replied. 

“Good.” He said, turning to you and brushing the back of his fingers against your cheek, “straight to the airport then, please.” 

“Why are they sending all of the luggage? You’ll have to return for filming soon right?” You searched his face with uncertainty. 

“Filming for me has been put on hiatus until I figure out what I want to do,” he replied simply. 

You shook your head, “Adam—they can put you in a hotel or something...something safer. The agency will find the right accommodations for you, you don’t have to worry.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about,” he said softly as he pressed his lips to the top of your head, “and anyway, they’ll resume filming once all of the actors on location have had their accommodations re-evaluated. They’re not taking any chances. Neither am I.” 

You sighed, feeling absolutely unable to fight anymore. The tension in your muscles faded and your eyelids closed just as the sun peaked out from the eastern horizon. You felt Adam’s arms tighten around you, and with the comfort of that knowledge, you drifted off.


End file.
